Demolition Tax and Renovation-First Policy

Impose a fee on demolishing buildings below a certain age and require developers to demonstrate that renovation is not viable before granting demolition permits. The embodied carbon in an existing structure is already "spent" — demolishing it releases that carbon and requires new embodied carbon for the replacement. Basel-Stadt is implementing a version of this: a compensation fee for demolishing buildings younger than 60 years, with revenues funding a Scope 3 emissions compensation fund.