UniGe is coordinating NAT-BUILD, a European project aimed at decarbonising the construction sector

07 Aprile, 2026

NAT-BUILD: a European project to build sustainably by drawing inspiration from nature

Using earth as a resource to build more sustainably, reducing the environmental impact of construction: this is the aim of the NAT-BUILD project – Mimicking nature to valorise earth as a building resource, selected for funding under the European Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions – Doctoral Network 2025 programme.

The project, coordinated by the Department of Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering - DICCA at the University of Genoa, with Agostino Walter Bruno as principal investigator, has a total budget of €4.56 million and involves 11 academic and industrial partners. It also provides for 15 PhD scholarships, to create an international and interdisciplinary training programme.

NAT_BUILD network — NAT-BUILD network, with beneficiary (red) and associated partners (green)

The idea behind NAT-BUILD is simple yet innovative: earth, a natural and widely available material, can become an effective solution for decarbonising the construction sector, one of the main contributors to global emissions. Earth-based construction technologies make it possible to reduce:

the consumption of natural resources;
the energy required for the production and transport of materials;
the energy consumption of buildings during their use;
the environmental impact during demolition and disposal.

Furthermore, thanks to earth’s ability to store and release water, these solutions can contribute to the development of innovative systems for green roofs and sustainable urban water management, which are particularly relevant in the context of climate change.

Despite their potential, these technologies have not yet been widely adopted on a large scale, due to challenges relating to mechanical strength, durability and the lack of established methodologies for assessing their environmental benefits. The NAT-BUILD project aims to overcome these obstacles through a nature-inspired (nature-mimicking) approach, which combines experimental, numerical and analytical methods within a multidisciplinary framework involving collaboration between universities and industry.

The central element of the project is training: the 15 PhD students involved will be engaged in an equal number of interconnected research projects and will acquire advanced skills not only in science but also in cross-disciplinary areas, relating to innovation, communication and the social impact of research.

NAT-BUILD forms part of the growing European commitment to sustainable building practices and helps to train a new generation of professionals capable of tackling the future challenges of civil engineering and the ecological transition.