Overview
Buildings shape our lives — but the way we construct and operate them today is driving up emissions, compromising our health and leaving people without access to adequate homes.
We need to act now to support solutions that ensure human and environmental well-being and prevent long-term dependency on high-emission, harmful systems.
We need to act now to support solutions that ensure human and environmental well-being and prevent long-term dependency on high-emission, harmful systems.
About Us
Assemble is a philanthropic alliance with the purpose to drive the transition to affordable, emissions-free, and resilient buildings for all.
We do this by aligning the field around a shared strategy, unlocking funding, and scaling action through collaborative grantmaking. As a fiscally-hosted project, we work with both pooled and aligned funders to enable buildings that support human and planetary wellbeing.
Assemble’s Values
Goal & Evidence-driven
We focus where we can make the most impact, guided by clear goals and strong evidence.
Collaborative & Inclusive
We work with integrity and transparency, achieving more together than we can alone.
Bold & Pragmatic
We value progress over perfection, building on what works and moving where there is momentum.
Equity & Care
We are dedicated to achieving not just a sustainable world, but a more equitable one – this means also caring about our partners and our teams, through an earnest and open-minded approach to our work.
Our Goal
By 2030, affordable, near-zero emission and resilient buildings become the new normal.
To get there, we need to:
Scale efficient energy solutions
Support the implementation of heat pumps, district heating networks and geothermal power; strengthen energy demand flexibility and drive mandates for mass renewable use, on- and offsite.
Boost energy and material efficiency
Drive demand for energy-efficient buildings and the use of low-emission materials through whole-life carbon targets for new and existing buildings.
Center affordability, health outcomes, and climate resilience
Drive awareness and action around the needs and benefits of a low-emission, people-centered built environment.
To enable buildings that support human and planetary wellbeing, we work to:
Accelerate scalable solutions that strengthen affordability, resilience and inclusion
Shift the rules of the game through stronger regulation, scaled finance and clear corporate disclosure and accountability
Build field capacity to meet the challenge through improved data and monitoring, seeding new organisations where needed and strengthening cross sector coalitions
Working globally, we focus on countries with high projected emissions and strong momentum for change, starting in China, the EU, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and the US.
The Opportunity
This is not just a climate issue — it’s a human one.
Shifting how we design, build, and operate buildings can unlock emissions reductions not only in construction, but across energy, industry, transport and waste. This is also a chance to reimagine our contribution to human wellbeing — improving health outcomes, creating decent jobs, and supporting more inclusive, affordable, resilient communities.
In the next two decades, more new floor space will be constructed than at any other point in human history – much of it in countries that are still shaping their regulatory frameworks, capital flows, and social contracts.
These decisions are not marginal. They will determine whether we live in compact, efficient, and inclusive cities or sprawling, energy-intensive and unequal ones. Whether buildings serve as pathways to resilience and equity, or as sources of risk and exclusion.
Solutions already exist – they now need to be scaled. We need coordinated action to accelerate change.
40%
of global GHG emissions can be removed, if we change how we build and operate buildings
200bn
m2 of floor space will be added 2025-2050 - the equivalent of 400 New Yorks; 80% in emerging economies
1.6bn
people worldwide currently lack adequate housing - estimated to rise to 3 billion by 2030*
*Sources: World Green Building Council; International Energy Agency; World Economic Forum
Get in touch
If you would like more information about our work, we welcome your outreach.
Please note, we do not accept unsolicited proposals.
