Book Publication
Sustainability Report 2021–2025
Book Publication
At LEVS, we focus on sustainability and CO2 emission reduction, in line with the Paris goals. To hold up a mirror to ourselves, we analyzed a broad selection of projects from our portfolio over the past five years. Some projects have been completed, while others have just started. Together, they provide a representative picture of our recent working methods and the current impact of our sustainability ambitions.
Download the full Sustainability Report 2021–2025 and see how our projects perform, where we stand with timber construction, and which design choices truly contribute to reducing CO₂ emissions.
Our commitments
We assessed our projects against the goals we signed in recent years: the Wood Construction Covenant MRA (Metropolitan Region Amsterdam), Paris Proof (Dutch Green Building Council), the Covenant for Future-Proof Construction, and the Commitment Statement for Biobased Construction (Building Balance). Are we meeting our own ambitions? And where do the challenges lie?
The numbers on the table
The downward trend has begun, but there is still much to be done. However, since 2020, a clear positive trend has been visible with a number of promising projects.
Two-thirds of the projects examined meet the Paris Proof standard for material-related emissions. However, the threshold values are becoming lower each year: from 220 kg CO₂-eq./m² GFA in 2022 to 50 kg in 2050. Nevertheless, there are also projects, such as Strandeiland IJburg, that already meet the 2050 standard.
Of all the homes in this report, 27% are timber constructions. In the MRA, where the covenant for Wood Construction 2021-2025 has a target of 20%, it is 34%. And for the projects currently in development, that percentage for the MRA is even 83%.
For Future-Proof Construction and Biobased Construction, it is still too early to assess, as both were only signed in 2024 and 2025. But the trend is positive.
Staying critical
At the same time, we must be honest: not all design choices automatically lead to lower emissions. In the timber construction of single-family homes in Omloop, the score is relatively high. The foundation and the ground floor have a significant impact on the total emissions, even with a wooden structure. Also there are still many technical challenges for building with wood. Additionally, high-rise timber construction still faces practical hurdles. The insurability of wooden buildings is one of these, a topic that urgently deserves attention in the sector.
Measuring raises questions. That is precisely the intention. By measuring, we can be more critical of the measurements themselves. The more we know about which numbers matter, the better we can steer them throughout the entire design process. A perfect report with uniform sustainability figures for every project does not exist. What we can do instead is to be critical of the figures we do have and substantiate where we are moving in the right direction.
Our mission
We choose an accessible format for our reporting that lends itself to repetition. The focus on results at the building level runs parallel to broader knowledge trajectories – also at the urban planning level – such as our recent publication Low Carbon Urbanism, together with BURA and Urban Climate Architects.
The integral design challenge remains our mission, that does not change. What does change is the foundation on which we work. We want to contribute to that foundation by being open and transparent about what works – and what does not yet.
