By Mike Mustapha, Division President of ABB Smart Buildings
This week is World Green Building Week – the world’s biggest campaign for sustainable buildings. The 2025 theme, ‘Be Bold on Buildings’, carries a simple but urgent message: Boldness is no longer optional, it’s the new standard. Managing demand and adapting with resilience isn’t just good for the planet, it’s the only way for businesses, cities, and communities to stay ahead.
Wherever I travel, one truth stands out: the world is running out of time to act boldly on buildings.
Buildings today consume around 30 percent of the world’s energy and generate more than a quarter of energy-related emissions1 . They also represent our biggest opportunity. With the right decisions, the sector could cut global emissions by more than 4 gigatons by 20352 – a game-changing contribution to hitting climate targets.
And yet, as much as 80% of the buildings that will exist in 2050 are already standing today3 . That means most of the challenge isn’t in what we build tomorrow, but how we transform what we already have.
This year alone, I’ve been on the ground in Germany, US, China, Malaysia, Australia, the Philippines, and UAE, amongst other countries. In each place, the pressures and priorities differ, but the call for bold leadership is universal.
- In Germany, I saw how open digital standards like KNX are enabling smarter demand management at scale.
- In US, Miami, Formula E reminded me how future technologies on the racetrack are accelerating change in how we live and work.
- In China, new distribution networks are being built with flexibility and electrification in mind from day one.
- In Southeast Asia and the Middle East, the focus is on resilience – adapting buildings and infrastructure to withstand heatwaves, floods, and rapid urbanization.
Every stop reinforces the same point: the need to balance growing demand and adapt with resilience is no longer optional, it’s the new norm.
So, what does bold leadership look like in practice? From what I’ve witnessed, three things stand out:
- Acting decisively. Climate targets, regulation, and market forces are converging. Waiting is no longer feasible and those who move first are already shaping the market.
- Embracing digital integration. Smart automation, real-time monitoring, and data-driven insights are helping cities and companies manage demand more intelligently, cutting waste while improving comfort.
- Treating sustainability as strategy. The leaders I meet don’t see sustainability as a compliance exercise – they see it as central to competitiveness, resilience, and long-term growth.
And the world is responding. Investments in energy efficiency in buildings grew 16% in a single year to USD 237 billion4 – but emissions in the sector still rose. Progress is happening, but it isn’t happening fast enough.
At ABB, we’re proud to stand as a Regional Knowledge Partner to the World Green Building Council in Europe. But partnership is just the start. Action, collaboration, and leadership will determine whether we seize this decisive decade or miss it.
So, how can we collectively be bolder on buildings? If there’s one enabler I see everywhere, in every conversation across the globe, it’s electrification.
Welcome to day one of World Green Building Week – and to the conversation on how we can all be bold on buildings. Tomorrow, my colleague Andrea Menti, Business Line Leader for Energy Distribution at ABB Smart Buildings, will share why our future depends on getting it right for every place we operate.
About the author
Mike Mustapha
Mike is the Division President of ABB Smart Buildings and was appointed in February 2022. In this position, he has full accountability for the performance of the global Smart Buildings business in ABB, which includes a broad portfolio of market-leading home and building automation solutions as well as the portfolio for energy distribution systems and products. After starting his career in the U.S. in 1990 as an Application Engineer with Rotoflow Corp. Inc., a leading supplier of high-speed rotary and cryogenic machinery for process industries, Mike built global leadership experience with Altas CopCo, a multinational industrial company, where he held various leadership positions. In January 2009, Mike founded the new Pre-Engineered Buildings and Hot Rolled Structured Steel Group, headquartered in Jeddah, KSA, with its own independent Board. Mike assumed overall accountability for the company, overseeing the Middle East. Mike joined ABB in August 2011 as Low Voltage Division Regional Manager for India, the Middle East & Africa. In June 2014, he was promoted to Global Managing Director for the Building Products Business Unit prior to his 2018 appointment as Head of Global Markets for the Electrification business. Mike currently resides in Dubai and holds a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC), U.S.
Sources:
[1] Buildings - Energy System - IEA
[2] Global-Status-Report-2024_2025.pdf
[3] Accelerating green growth in built environment | McKinsey
