Dear Colleagues,

The construction industry is one of the most pollution-causing industries in the world. This sector occupies places on the undesirable podiums of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Data from 2018 point out that 11% of the CO₂ emissions are a consequence of the industrial processes resulting from the manufacture of construction materials and products such as steel, cement, and glass. Nevertheless, environmental awareness is now greater than ever, and a paradigm shift is happening. Strategies to mitigate this ecological footprint are arising and aim at reducing CO₂ emissions and the energy demands that are associated with buildings and the construction industry. Low-carbon construction materials, either new or renewed, composites including waste, recycled materials or those with different purposes than usual, and eco-friendly or natural materials are just some of the numerous varieties of solutions towards an ecological and sustainable future among the construction sector.

This Special Issue aims to collect scientific research papers in the scope of construction and building materials with reduced carbon footprint, and innovative engineering approaches contributing to the sustainable development of the construction industry. Papers concerning experimental, numerical, or analytic studies as well as survey papers will be considered for publication.

Possible topics for submissions include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Innovative eco-friendly, carbon-neutral, and/or green materials for construction and buildings;
• Recycling and the circular economy of building materials: characterization and performance;
• Physical, chemical, and mechanical characterization of concretes and other building materials with new composition mixtures (including, refurbishment, natural or industrial wastes);
• Lifecycle assessment of construction and building materials;
• Engineering approaches focused on environmental impact mitigation;
• Sustainable structural analysis and design.

Dr. Sandra R.S. Monteiro
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• eco-friendly materials
• sustainable construction
• carbon-neutral materials
• sustainable engineering
• environmental impact mitigation
• recycling and circular economy of building materials