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As significant contributors to global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the international construction sector is under great pressure to mitigate CO2 emissions and slow global warming more aggressively. The aim of this study is to measure and compare the sectoral CO2 emission linkages and their structures in the construction sectors of 41 countries over 1995-2009 by combing a hybrid multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model and the hypothesis extraction method. The backward and forward CO2 emission linkages indicate that the international construction sector plays a significant role in importing CO2 emissions from upstream industries, while the export of CO2 emissions to downstream industries is relatively minimal. Four fundamental linkage elements show that the net backward CO2 emission linkages account for the largest proportion, followed by the mixed and net forward CO2 emission linkages, while the mixed backward CO2 emission linkages are relatively small. The leading CO2 emission inflows are from the energy, resource and raw-material sectors. The outflows from the construction sector are mainly to the real estate and public utilities sectors. Based on these findings, the paper puts forward countermeasures for the global construction sector to improve energy efficiency, promote industrial structure upgrading and improve the policy system for greenhouse gas emission reduction. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.