The residential sector is the third-largestenergy consumer and emitter globally and as such is at the forefront of theenergy transition and net-zero emissions pathway. To accelerate the pace ofdecarbonization of residential buildings, this study is the first to present abottom-up assessment framework integrated with the decomposing structuraldecomposition method to evaluate the emission patterns and decarbonizationprocess of residential building operations in 56 countries spanning 12 regionsworldwide from 2000 to 2020. The results show that (1) the operational carbonintensity of global residential buildings has maintained an annual decline of 1.2%over the past two decades, and energy intensity and average household size havebeen key to this decarbonization; (2) end uses have held an increasinglyimportant role in decarbonizing global residential buildings (-46.3 kgs ofcarbon dioxide per household per year), with the largest contributors beingappliances(38.3%), followed by space heating (21.2%) and lighting (12.6%); and(3) although the total decarbonization of global residential buildings was 7.1gigatons of carbon dioxide and achieved a decarbonization efficiency of 9.4%per yr during this time period, regional decarbonization inequality and unevendistribution remained quite large, especially in emerging economy regions.Moreover, the uncertainty and robustness of the assessment framework are alsotested, and adaptive high decarbonization strategies are further proposed forglobal residential buildings. Overall, this study reviews and compares globaland regional performances and motivations for decarbonization to supportnational decarbonization efforts to reach net-zero emissions and advance theglobal residential building sector toward a carbon-free century.
Keywords
Global residential buildings
Operational carbon emissions
Residential end-use activities
Decomposing structural decomposition
High decarbonization strategies
