Glass buildings are bad for the environment, the use of energy and the generation of greenhouse gases

Buildings with curtain walls made of glass in Boston's Seaport District.  Photo: David L. Ryan.  

The Boston Globe has a nice article on this, "Boston wants to fight climate change. So why is every new building made of glass?."

From the article:

If architects, planners, and public officials in Boston mean everything they say about sustainability and climate readiness, why is the city’s latest construction boom filling the skyline with so much glass? From the shimmering height of the Millennium Tower to the waterfront views of 22 Liberty, and a boxy office and condo complex going up at Pier 4, glass exteriors have become a major feature of today’s urban landscape. Just as we associate periods in Boston’s history with specific materials and styles — like 19th-century brick apartment blocks and 20th-century monumental concrete forms — glass is the material of the moment. The new buildings mimic others being erected in New York, London, Dubai, Singapore, and other cities around the world. Glass walls have become a shortcut for architecture that is sleek, cosmopolitan, and of-the-moment.  .....  

Yet glass buildings also take a lot of energy to heat and cool. When New York started tracking energy use by skyscrapers, the gleaming 7 World Trade Center — one of that city’s more efficient glass towers — scored worse than the 1930s-era Empire State Building. Oddly, glass buildings are proliferating even as cities like Boston set ambitious goals to deal with climate change. Former mayor Thomas Menino vowed to cultivate “the most sustainable city in the United States”; his successor, Martin Walsh, has called Boston “America’s climate champion” and set a goal of being carbon neutral by 2050. ...  

But all the talk about sustainability among architects hasn’t actually translated into lots of sustainable buildings in the real world. In reality, the industry faces a massive problem: By some estimates, the building sector consumes nearly half of the energy and produces 45 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Many architects have signed on to an industry challenge to become carbon neutral by 2030, but new buildings are already slipping behind the targets to get there. Permissive building codes, industry inertia, and market demands — like clients clamoring for floor-to-ceiling views — have widened the discrepancy between the kind of buildings cities say they want and what they actually allow. So while the industry inches towards better environmental performance, buildings in Boston and other cities still fall short of the sustainability goals that everyone claims to embrace.

On a number of issues--more to come--it's clear that the kinds of initiatives underway mostly in Europe:

•  with converting a whole country to electric cars, such as in Norway ("How electric cars take over oil-rich Norway," Deutsche Welle)
• bans on the sales of internal combustion engine powered cars and the creation of low emissions zones ("Diesel Vehicles Face a Grim Future in Europe’s Cities," Yale Environment 360) 
• creation of car free zones in city cores out of concern for air quality ("Here are 11 more cities that have joined the car-free revolution," Fast Company)
  
  
  
• creation of congestion zones where cars are charged a daily fee to enter the urban core, such as in Stockholm, Singapore, or London 
• low emissions zones ("Emerging practices in Low Emission Zones throughout Europe," Mass Transit Magazine)
• free transit to discourage car use, such as was implemented earlier this year in Luxembourg

are nowhere near being implemented in the US.  

Yes

• Salt Lake City and Pittsburgh have fare free zones and many cities have free circulator buses, like Denver
• a number of communities are now doing composting
• California has banned gasoline powered cars effective in 2035 ("California Plans to Ban Sales of New Gas-Powered Cars in 15 Years," New York Times)
• states on the West Coast are creating an electricity charging network for trucks along major freeways ("A plan to install electric truck charging stations up and down the West Coast," San Diego Union-Tribune)
• pre-pandemic, New York City had put forth plans to implement a congestion zone ("New York becomes first city in US to approve congestion pricing," Guardian)
• plenty of developers build allegedly "green buildings" 
• many cities have announced plans to consume only green electricity ("What are 100% Green energy commitments?," Sierra Club)
• Caltrain is electrifying its main line ("Caltrain electrification is coming to Palo Alto. What should you expect?," Palo Alto Weekly)

but for the most part, substantive world changing initiatives by cities, counties, and states seem to be rare.

More big initiatives are being led by industry, especially in the (sustainable) energy sector (solar power, wind turbines), Elon Musk and Tesla have redefined the automobile industry in terms of the viability of electric cars, and there are significant increases in individual households installing solar electricity systems, although the decline of tax incentives and industry push back on compensation rates could lead to a decline.

The biggest thing cities have been addressing are autonomous vehicles ("The 4 cities competing to fully implement autonomous vehicles," Electronic Engineering Times), and while they can reduce accident, injury and death rates compared to people-operated vehicles, they aren't an environmental initiative.