The positive development of the construction industry with regard to CO2 emissions in recent years seemed to initiate the turnaround in the sector. Now the trend is going backwards. Despite increased investments in energy efficiency and lower energy intensity, the construction sector's energy consumption and CO2 emissions have risen again to an all-time high since the COVID 19 pandemic, according to a new report. “Years of warnings about the impacts of climate change have become a reality,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “If we do not rapidly cut emissions in line with the Paris Agreement, we will be in deeper trouble.” [1] Construction has evolved over millennia, whereby a large proportion of buildings and civil engineering structures have been designed with an emphasis on not using too much material. But in view of the threat of global warming, mass extinction of species, energy crisis, finite fossil resources and the not inconsiderable contribution of construction, it is essential to include aspects of sustainability in every building. The awareness of counteracting global warming and of thinking and planning sustainably has grown significantly in recent centuries. We do have the knowledge of how the building industry can reduce environmentally harmful actions in theory, but a fast implementation seems at the moment to be the biggest problem. This challenge raises the question of which possibilities we have in structural design and especially in the design of lightweight structures to promote a rapid and continuous conversion towards sustainable and environmentally friendly design into everyday building design and practice. One key point besides awareness of the situation is to create a basis of understanding and tools for those who are involved in the building industry in order to make the right decisions towards more sustainable solutions in project planning and execution but also for being able to explain and provide well-founded calculations. Thus, teaching and research may contribute to a more rapid change in rethinking sustainable construction. This paper explains a teaching concept for this purpose, which is intended to promote the understanding and learning of sustainability aspects for reducing environmental impacts in construction.