Market report
Put sustainability evidence in context
Explore architects’ attitudes to sustainability certification, investment and circularity in Sustainability Q2 2025. The report helps manufacturers understand the barriers and stakeholder influences surrounding sustainable choices before deciding how to explain their own product credentials.
Blogs I published 06 March 2021 I Dirk Hoogenboom
Sustainable solutions are a topic in many projects, but the accompanying certification is not well known
Although sustainability is playing an important role in construction projects, the willingness to invest is lacking
Even more architects in European countries have experienced that sustainability is an important topic in the meetings they have with the principals of their projects. Be that as it may, sustainability is not getting the attention you would expect, especially when the demand for sustainable solutions is high but the Willingness to invest in sustainability is low. Over the years, sustainability has become more of a topic of debate, and sustainable solutions, like using sustainable materials, are considered more often, but principals’ willingness to invest in these seems to be lagging.
Certification can be influential, but certificates are not well known.
Certifications can be of great influence in clarifying the concept of sustainability. Principals are open to sustainable solutions and even demand them, but the fact that people are unfamiliar with the possible gains of those solutions leads to a low willingness to invest in them. Certification can help here. By proving that used materials have been produced sustainably or that solutions contribute to the sustainability of a building, certification can help principals trust in sustainable solutions. It can guarantee principals that every euro spent contributes to making their project more sustainable. Despite their added value, these certifications are relatively unknown. Only a small share of European architects can name sustainability certificates, and a vast majority do not know any spontaneously. The ambiguous understanding of sustainability causes significant action towards more sustainable construction to be lacking. The relative unfamiliarity with various sustainability certificates used in construction is but another example of that.
For more detailed information at the country level, we refer you to the European Architectural Barometer Q4 2020: Sustainability & Circularity.
Tailored market research
Find the evidence your specifiers trust
Technical credentials only help when the intended audience understands their relevance. USP can investigate how architects and clients interpret sustainable claims, what supports trust and which considerations carry the most weight in product decisions.
Branding Research
Research how architects perceive your sustainability claims and supporting credentials, comparing credibility and differentiation with the competing brands they already know.
Driver Analysis Research
Assess the relative importance of certification, product performance, price and perceived environmental benefit when architects and clients evaluate sustainable alternatives.
Customer Journey Research
Trace where architects and clients seek sustainability evidence during specification, identifying the moments when unclear claims or missing information impede decisions.
Read more
12 September 2025 I Dirk Hoogenboom
The Cost vs. Sustainability Gap in European Construction
22 September 2025 I Dirk Hoogenboom
Embodied Carbon: Europe’s Most Adopted Green Practice
20 June 2022 I Dirk Hoogenboom
Architects link circularity mainly to material aspects
14 July 2025 I Dirk Hoogenboom