Buildings are a key consideration in any policy strategy aimed at protecting people from threats such as extreme heat and cold, wildfires and storms, and growing sea-level rise. And with a cumulative value globally of $US320 trillion, buildings are undeniably a key factor in world economic stability worth protecting. They are also a major concern for stakeholders seeking to curb greenhouse gas emissions, lower insurance premiums, and save energy and costs.
However, those stakeholders—governments, owners, occupants, and utilities—each approach future-proofing buildings with divergent interests and levels of expertise. But what if every stakeholder could input an address anywhere in the world and learn about that building? What’s more, what if they could also receive sustainable upgrade and retrofitting options, including cost analyses, payback periods, and carbon reduction impacts?
This is exactly what MIT’s bold Global Building Inventory (GloBI) is aiming to provide. The GloBI digital platform will be a powerful searchable database on buildings in cities around the world that provides detailed, actionable information. A prototype currently covers residential buildings in Massachusetts..
“It’s like a Google for buildings and their environmental performance,” says MIT Professor Christoph Reinhart, head of the GloBI Initiative and the Institute’s Sustainable Design Lab. “Our vision is to generate free, public, actionable climate data on buildings all over the world.”
The platform is a scalable effort that will soon cover data on about 28 million buildings across seven countries and five continents, with international partners in Brazil, India, Kenya, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Great Britain, and the United States.
The underlying data has already equipping stakeholders with the knowledge required to make buildings more safe, efficient and healthy; to reduce global carbon emissions; and to advance informed, climate-smart policies and investments in their regions.
GloBI Symposium 2026
For two days in January, policymakers, building science experts, and representatives from major utilities in GloBI partner regions gathered at MIT, where they shared knowledge and insights and learned from case studies related to decarbonization policy guidance, human health and climate change adaptation, energy infrastructure planning, and building-owner retrofitting. The event was co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, who collaborated with MIT in the development of the GloBI digital platform. In keynote remarks, EEA Secretary Rebecca Tepper stressed how important it is for policy to be based on data and evidence, and how glad she is to partner with MIT.
Bethany Patten, executive director of MIT’s Climate Policy Center, shares similar sentiments. “As Massachusetts prioritizes improved resilience in our local buildings and infrastructure, we’re happy GloBI can help make their job easier. We’re dedicated to supporting the development of tools and models that help leaders make more informed decisions—turning complex scientific and technical data into something that can be easily understood, and more importantly, lead to action.”
Distinguished Professor Paulo Ferrão of the Instituto Superior Técnico at the University of Lisbon traveled all the way from Portugal with his colleague, researcher Ricardo Gomes, to attend the event. Ferrão also came in his capacity as acting chair of the EU Mission Board for Climate Neutral and Smart Cities.
“Events such as the GloBI Symposium provide a valuable forum not only for presenting tools, but also for engaging in in-depth technical discussions on how platforms like GloBI can be further developed and effectively applied in real-world contexts,” he said. “Engaging with peers and policy makers facing similar challenges helps align methodological innovation with practical constraints, ultimately strengthening the role of building data in supporting effective and implementable climate policy.”
“Green growth is a strategic choice, not a strategy,” said a GloBI partner in Trondheim, Norway, speaking to the gathering via a video. “But without research, climate policy becomes guesswork; with research it becomes a competitive advantage.”
In the near term, Reinhart hopes to move into phase two of the initiative, adding six or seven more partner countries, widening the scope of the analytics. Eventually, he and his team envision joining with a major technology partner to scale globally and include every building in the world.
“I am impact driven,” he says, “and so far the impact we’re having is fantastic. The people who work with us are taking action and making a difference.”
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