Inclusive Construction Management: Insights and Recommendations by Matching Analysis on Circular Economy (CE) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) are heavily promoted in the construction sector. The target is to realize an inclusive construction in the life cycles. Here, the “inclusiveness” calls for an equilibrium rather than an optimization on the dimensions of social justice, environmental responsibility, and economic efficiency. In realizing this eternal target, an in-depth investigation on how circular economy (CE) will affect the sustainable development goals (SDGs) will be critical. This paper aims to conduct an in-depth analysis on matching how CE policies in the construction sector will affect the 17 social, environmental and economic values in the framework of the SDGs proposed by the UN, respectively. The CE policies in the construction sector are analyzed based on the life cycles in the whole supply chain, from the natural resources mining, transportation of materials, construction materials manufacturing, on-site construction process, to final waste disposal and treatment, including construction-and-demolish waste (C&D waste) recycling. We analyze the policy or the measures in each life-cycle stage, investigating how it would contribute (positive impacts) or affect (trade-offs) the 17 SDGs. Particularly, policies are discussed based on the accounting of embodied carbon in the buildings of the Greater Bay Area (GBA).