Abstract
Carbon reduction has emerged as a critical global challenge. The building sector, as the primary contributor to carbon emissions, stands to benefit substantially from the adoption of emerging technologies during construction. This study quantitatively evaluates the carbon reduction potential of 25 emerging construction technologies, investigates their reduction pathways, and provides a comparative analysis and classification of these techniques. The results demonstrate that renewable resources and waste reduction technologies offer substantial reductions in carbon emissions from energy consumption and waste transportation, presenting a key avenue for achieving carbon neutrality in the construction phase. Prefabrication technologies, which relocate traditional on-site curing processes to factories while retaining only assembly tasks on-site, reduce emissions by over 90%. Technologies streamlining construction processes exhibit varying reduction rates, influenced by their impact on workflows. High-strength and high-performance materials, which optimize concrete and steel use on-site, show the least reduction (< 30%). A phase-specific technology selection strategy is proposed and validated through a case study, which demonstrates a 28.49% reduction in on-site emissions during construction through the integrated application of multiple technologies. In conclusion, this study quantifies the carbon reduction potential and pathways of emerging construction technologies, offering data-driven insights for technology selection, industry adoption, and policy development.
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Acknowledgements
This work received funding support from the China Railway 15th Bureau Group Co., LTD. Science and Technology R&D Project (2023A6). The views presented in this paper are those of the authors alone. The construction technology-based model used in the analysis and the data in the case study are supported by the experts and technicians in the “Xinyang CAZ Double Innovation Industrial Park” project.
Funding
This work was supported by the China Railway 15th Bureau Group Co., LTD. Science and Technology R&D Project (2023A6). All authors have received research support from China Railway 15th Bureau Group Co., Ltd.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation was performed by **Yifei Wang** and **Yufeng Zhang** , data collection and analysis were performed by **Zhiping Liu, Jing Li and Qi Yang** , funds were provided by **Zongjun Xia** and **Xiaodan Li** . The first draft of the manuscript was written by **Zhiping Liu** and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Liu, Z., Xia, Z., Li, J. et al. Carbon reduction potential and selection strategies of emerging construction-phase technologies. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-39122-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-39122-1
