Academicians and professionals in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) field have expressed an increasing interest in sustainability and its application in the development of construction projects, especially with its deemed relationship with lean construction, for the purpose of improving efficiency in the construction processes. Practices framed under the lean philosophy show their potential in reducing environmental, economic, and social impacts during the construction phase, with an increase in the parameters of sustainability in the development of projects.

An overview of climate change mitigation opportunities in the world's buildings is presented, based on the key building-specific findings of the Fourth Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change. Buildings and the building stock can play a major role in mitigating climate change in the short- to medium-term, since substantial reductions in CO2 emissions from their energy use can be achieved over the coming years.

Co-benefits rarely enter quantitative decision-support frameworks, often because the methodologies for their integration are lacking or not known. This review fills in this gap by providing comprehensive methodological guidance on the quantification of co-impacts and their integration into climate-related decision making based on the literature. The article first clarifies the confusion in the literature about related terms and makes a proposal for a more consistent terminological framework, then emphasizes the importance of working in a multiple-objective–multiple-impact framework.