Digital Twins for Building Sustainability: A Life Cycle-Oriented Critical Review

Digital Twin (DT) technology is increasingly positioned as a transformative tool for advancing sustainability in the Built Environment (BE). However, its lifecycle-wide applications, implementation maturity, and alignment with sustainability standards remain insufficiently understood. This study presents a PRISMA-guided systematic review of the applications of DTs for building sustainability. A total of 109 peer-reviewed articles retrieved from the Web of Science database were analyzed using content analysis. The literature was classified into five thematic areas: the evolution of Building Information Modelling (BIM) into DT; DT concepts and applications; DT components; DT maturity levels; and sustainability dimensions enabled by DTs, including energy, carbon, indoor environmental quality (IEQ), circular economy (CE), and social sustainability. An implementation-oriented subset was further examined to assess the lifecycle coverage, building types, sustainability focus, and DT maturity. The findings show that most DT applications are concentrated in the operation and maintenance (O&M) phase, primarily targeting energy efficiency, operational carbon reduction, predictive maintenance, and IEQ monitoring. In contrast, design, construction, renovation, and end-of-life applications remain underdeveloped, despite their importance for lifecycle sustainability. The review also reveals uneven maturity across sustainability dimensions, with more advanced implementations in operational energy and IEQ applications, while embodied carbon, whole-life carbon, circularity, accessibility, equity, and broader social sustainability indicators remain insufficiently explored. Furthermore, DT applications are weakly aligned with established sustainability standards, certifications, and regulatory frameworks. These findings highlight the need for lifecycle-integrated, standards-aligned, and human-centered DT frameworks capable of connecting technical, environmental, and social performance indicators to support sustainable building decision making.