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Concrete alone accounts for around 7-8% of global emissions. So what happens when the real climate problem in buildings is no longer just energy, but the materials themselves?

In this episode of Climate Confident, I’m joined by Alexander Sexsmith, architect and founder of Sexsmith Architects, to unpack what regenerative architecture means when stripped of the fluff. We look at the climate challenge hiding in plain sight across the built environment: embodied carbon, toxic materials, weak resilience, and the fact that standard construction often performs badly when fire, water, and heat hit. If we’re serious about decarbonisation, net zero, and the energy transition, this matters now.

You’ll hear why cleaner grids are changing the climate maths for buildings, and why materials like concrete, petrochemical foams, and conventional drywall deserve a lot more scrutiny. We dig into how fast-grown bio-based materials such as hemp, straw, and cork could cut emissions reduction timelines, improve indoor air quality, and strengthen resilience. And you might be shocked to learn that some of the materials people still dismiss as fringe are already proving themselves on fire performance and commercial-scale construction.

We also get into the harder bit: scale. Cost, code, skills, supply, consumer awareness, and policy all matter. Because climate tech alone won’t fix construction unless markets, standards, and incentives move with it.

🎙️ Listen now to hear how Alexander Sexsmith and Sexsmith Architects are rethinking climate tech, decarbonisation, policy, and resilient design in the race to cut emissions from the built environment.

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