Looking at five different industries, wine-making, aviation, shipping, footwear and fisheries, to learn lessons from their efforts to become more sustainable. They provide helpful benchmarks, identify challenges and best practice case studies for the built environment. Of particular interest are the industry bodies that have emerged, how they came into being, and the frameworks under which cross-industry stakeholders co-ordinate, collaborate and set common sustainability goals and targets across national boundaries. Construction and real estate are very localised businesses so decarbonisation efforts require multi-stakeholder collaborative efforts with strong leadership from an internationally recognised industry association.