Giorgia Tzar, International Passive House Association
Rheinstraße 44/46, 64283 Darmstadt, Germany

The UN set 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all” [UN, 2020]. Many of these goals are related to the environment – both natural and built. In this time when the action on climate change and social equity needs to be fast and effective, the Passive House Standard provides an essential contribution to meeting many of the challenges SDG implementation faces in the built sector. The most obvious example is related to the eleventh goal, which aims to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”, yet Passive House is applicable to many of the other SDGs too.

A Passive House building’s role in meeting the SDGs includes providing a cost-effective, resilient, healthy environment for building users; Lowering carbon emissions through high energy efficiency and in many cases, making use of integrated renewable energy sources; Providing jobs across the whole range of building professionals from manufacturing and construction to design and development; Educate professionals and the public on the role of buildings in climate action and achieving better buildings and share this knowledge internationally; And to provide quality-assured buildings using a transparent, performance-based building standard that ensures accountability for meeting our construction and climate goals [Martello, 2018].

Not every SDG is applicable to Passive House. Those that have a strong link to the Standard have been included in this table, which summarises the ways in which Passive House contributes to these SDGs

Table 1: [UN, 2020]

SDG 1 End poverty in all its forms everywhere
SDG 3, Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
SDG 4 Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
SDG 7 Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
SDG 8 Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
SDG Goal 9 Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
SDG 11 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
SDG 12 Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
SDG 13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
SDG 16 Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
SDG 17 Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

Health and wellbeing are major considerations for meeting the Passive House Standard. Passive House homes benefit from high thermal comfort and air quality to aid in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, lowering the risk and rate of respiratory problems [Rosemeier, Brimblecombe, 2017]. They are resistant to mold and moisture build-up, which contributes to their longevity and thus, sustainability [McGuiness, 2016]. Governments can implement the PH Standard into their social housing to reduce energy poverty and illness rates among tenants and contribute to SDGs 1, 9 and 11. Non-residential Passive House buildings such as schools and offices also benefit from a low CO2 concentration owing tothe fresh air supply and no draughts [Semke, 2020]. These health-based benefits also help meet SDG 3 by substantially reducing the number of illnesses caused by air pollution and contamination. The mechanical ventilation required in Passive House Buildings filters incoming air to ensure external pollutants do not affect the fresh, internal air supply.

Energy efficiency is a job-creating sector, providing more new jobs than renewables and the fossil fuel industry [McKinsey, 2020]. These jobs cover the whole spectrum of the construction industry, from manufacturing and tradespeople to architects and developers, ensuring that the sector benefits a range of professions and economic groups, helping support SDGs 1, 8, 9 and 17. Given the threat climate change poses to economies the world over, investments in the sector not only serve to create job and capacity building opportunities, but also combat climate change while building resilient industries and buildings (SDGs 9, 11, 13).

The extremely low heating and cooling costs in Passive Houses tackle fuel poverty and can play a role in financial security by reducing the auxiliary costs in the home, contributing to SDG 1. Money saved can be spent elsewhere, benefiting the family and the economy. This is closely interlinked with SDG 11 and can meet SDG 7 when renewable energy sources are integrated. Passive House social housing can already be found in countries around the world including Mexico and the UK, highlighting the multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilise and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources, to support the achievement of the sustainable development goals in all countries, as targeted by SDG 17.

Passive House is not only effective for building users, who benefit from a better learning environment; it also provides opportunities for further education and best practice implementation worldwide. With course providers the world over, Passive House training is available for architects and engineers, tradespeople and an increasing number of other professionals in the construction chain. This is directly applicable to SDGs 4, 8, 9 and 13, by substantially increasing the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills for employment and entrepreneurship and ensuring that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development.

According to the International Energy Agency, buildings alone make up 36 per cent of global final energy consumption and nearly 40 per cent of total direct and indirect CO2 emissions [IEA, 2020]. The Passive House standard is not only quality assured with no performance gap; it significantly reduces operating costs and emissions and also supports the uptake of renewable energy. As such, Passive House buildings are not only resilient to fluctuating energy prices and bloated fossil fuel demand, they are also constructed to stand the test of time, resistant to mold and moisture damage from a poorly realised project. This makes them an innovative solution to taking urgent action to combat climate change, meet sustainability goals for human settlements and, given the international applicability of Passive House, strengthen global partnerships for sustainable development (SDGs 7, 9, 11, 13 and 17).

Passive House buildings have an extremely low operative energy demand, well complemented by integrated renewable energy sources. Renewable energy also provides more jobs than fossil fuels and with increasing innovation in the industry, peak loading and storage solutions continue to be developed, helping to meet SDGs 7 and 8 to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all, while also promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth. Passive House buildings can be integrated into district heating systems, make use of local and onsite renewable production and even use waste heat from local industry [Peper, Grove-Smith 2013], contributing to SDGs 9, 11 and 12.

Increasing international interest in the Passive House Standard led the Passive House Institute to found the International Passive House Association (iPHA) in 2010. iPHA is an international network for Passive House knowledge, which facilitates the dissemination of Passive House knowledge globally. Together with a global network of training centres, building certifiers, research partners and Passive House professionals, the Passive House community is truly international. Together, the network provides access to Passive House education and implementation worldwide [iPHA, 2020], contributing to SDGs 4, 7 and 17.

The benefits of Passive House and its contribution to meeting the SDGs are numerous, most importantly perhaps is the Standard’s reliability, offering building professionals and owners a quality assured building solution. The Passive House Standard’s grounding in physics, with clear, scientific, performance-based criteria, means it is not only internationally applicable, but also transparent [PHI, 2019]. The Standard is public and available to all, resulting in a proven solution for the private and public sectors. When implemented by municipalities, these beacon projects can serve to inspire better local building practices and guidelines, contributing to the SDGs including 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 16 and 17.

If both the public and the private sector increase their implementation of the Passive House Standard, the results on a larger scale can lead to a substantial reduction of the total building-related carbon emissions, meet development targets including good health and wellbeing, climate action, affordable and clean energy and responsible consumption and production among others. Particularly now, in a period when policymakers and the private sector are making decisions about the direction their building guidelines and business development will go in, it is important to highlight in what way the Passive House Standard can lead to better health, social, economic and environmental outcomes. As a well-known and widely used tool to explain the direction the UN encourages leadership towards, the SDGs are an ideal backdrop to illustrate where the Passive House Standard fits into global aims.

Figure 1: Spotlight on Passivhaus Design - Sustainable Development Goals. [Track 0, 2017]