Infrastructure development compromises creation of low-carbon cities

Of the UN SDGs, the role of infrastructure in enabling or compromising the development of future low-carbon settlements falls under the goal #11 "Sustainable cities and communities". However, when it comes to the specific content of the SDG #11, only the subgoals 11.6 and 11.B-C loosely include these development-phase emissions. If it was shown that infrastructure development compromises creation of low-carbon cities, it would also mean that the SDG #11 might fail to guide the development to sustainable cities and communities. In this study the role of infrastructure and capital development emissions are analyzed from different perspectives by synthesizing the suggested emissions levels from previous studies. Iceland is looked at separately as a case country and the capital Reykjavik as a case city. Previous studies on Iceland are utilized to discuss the infrastructure and capital development related emissions and to compare them to the overall carbon footprints suggested for these locations and their residents. The results suggest that climate-sustainable built environment cannot be built with the currently dominant materials of concrete, steel and asphalt. The issue should quickly receive more attention before we run out of the remaining carbon quota.