The Framing of a Sustainable Development Goals Assessment in Decarbonizing the Construction Industry – Avoiding “Greenwashing”

To avoid the use of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for greenwashing, construction projects must include both long-term and short-term factors in assessing their SDG sustainability.  However, companies rarely use SDG assessments as a tool for decisions for real change towards more sustainable and equitable corporate practices.  SDG assessments must be transparent on dealing with the long-term climate target, to keep them from contributing to yet another layer of greenwashing.  This paper presents an approach for a thorough – “non greenwashing” – way of an SDG assessment, with the objective of helping construction companies and others minimize future business risks.