Construction degrades the earth by depleting finite and irreplaceable natural resources, emits global warming greenhouse gases that cause climate change, transgresses planetary boundaries that triggers environmental hazards threatening human survival. The purpose of this paper is to (1) quantify environmental impacts of construction and (2) classify environmental impacts of construction for designing environmental sustainability interventions. The Preferred-Reporting-Items-for-Systematic-Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) technique identified 69 publications from four databases on global impacts of construction for 2020–2024 to include latest developments in the subject. The Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) model was applied to study construction impacts in Uganda. Descriptive statistics were used to quantify impacts. Classification analysis was used to group impacts of construction. The four major categories of impacts identified were: (1) ecosystem conversion, (2) resource depletion, (3) environmental pollution and (4) climate change. Within these categories, construction emits 20–47% greenhouse gases with Arithmetic Mean (AM) of 39% that contributes to over 50% climate change. Other key impacts were natural resource depletion at 32–60% (AM = 42%), biodiversity loss and degradation at 70–80% (AM = 75%) because of urbanization, landfill pollution at 32–50% (AM = 40%) and air pollution at 23% because of aerosol particulate matter of ≤PM10. The study concludes that developing countries contribute to planetary crisis of biodiversity loss through unsustainable consumption of natural resources for construction driven by high urbanization. This is evidenced by loss of 1,565 Hectares/year of natural resources in Uganda that exceeds regenerative capacity and threatens intergenerational equity for sustainable development. The study recommends establishing natural resource consumption limits for society to survive.