Aligning circular economy and low-carbon economy for a sustainable built environment

The circular economy and low-carbon economy have emerged as key paradigms addressing resource depletion and climate change. However, their development has largely occurred in parallel, leading to inconsistencies between approaches. Here, this perspective proposes a low-carbon circular economy (LCCE) paradigm to guide policymakers and academia toward more coherent strategies for sustainable transitions in the built environment, one of the most resource- and carbon-intensive sectors. The paradigm is structured around four principles—restructure, reduce, replace, and remove—to align material efficiency and carbon mitigation, from which ten implementation approaches across the building life cycle are identified. Strengthening this alignment requires systems thinking, including integrated material planning, a life cycle perspective, cross-sectoral and regional coordination, and holistic policymaking and governance. Further research and policy agendas are proposed to address the robustness, scalability, context sensitivity, and adaptability of the paradigm.