Communities all over the world are currently affected by a numerous significant environmental concerns including the harmful effects of climate change. These issues are frequently the result of resource-intensive urban lives. Fortunately, several real-world solutions to these problems are now being created and put into practice in cities all over the world. So, in an effort to develop more livable and sustainable cities, one has to embark on an inspired journey to investigate the most cutting-edge concepts, technologies, and projects being employed by cities today and in future ahead. As well as having the ability to spark widespread change, which would put us on the road to a future where humans coexist peacefully with nature on one planet.
The Sustainable Development Goals, also known as the Global Goals, are a set of 17 interconnected goals that are meant to act as a “common blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.”
The worldwide urban population is expected to double in the next 30 years. As a result, the worldwide earth infrastructure will be doubled. There is just a brief period of opportunity to get things properly and as a result, urban investment decisions made today will determine whether people are confined to resource-inefficient, fossil-fuel-dependent structures and lifestyles. Or if they will help their surroundings to become pleasant, healthy, and sustainable places to live.
Possibility of development | Indian Green Building
Investing in urban infrastructure and using it will amount to more than five times the global GDP and its use over the next 30 years, thus making it vital that such investments be made in a sustainable and resilient manner. The consequences of climate change will be felt by all and will differ from one region to the next as well. Cities will soon house 75% of the world’s population. And the most difficult problem for cities is to acknowledge that they must be sustainable in their inflows and outflows of energy, water, food, and materials. How exactly does that support our sustainability?
Green buildings have the potential to be a powerful generator of economic growth and the ability to “build back better.” When one talks about the 17 sustainable development goals, the SDG 9 calls for “resilient infrastructure, inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and
innovation. It has eight goals, with twelve indicators to track progress: developing sustainable, resilient, and inclusive infrastructures; promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization; increasing access to financial services and markets; upgrading all industries and infrastructures for sustainability; and improving research and industrial technology.
As a result, the objectives are as follows: facilitate the development of sustainable infrastructure in developing countries; encourage domestic technological development and industrial diversification; and enable widespread access to information and communications technology. However, the question that comes to mind when discussing the overview of Indian Green Building Business Model is: How are the most prominent green cities in the India solving this huge challenge?
The green building approach
The important factor when one talks about green building models in India is their role in catalyzing India’s green economic revival. Following Covid, there has been an agreement to “build back better” and invest in sectors of the economy that can create jobs while also fueling green growth. Green buildings are an excellent way to achieve these goals as various policy initiatives are being developed with a variety of goals, such as developing waste recovery technologies, lowering our water usage, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions thus overall increasing green jobs.
Additionally, the city’s approach to sustainability is going to steadily improve as more people become aware of the advantages of implementing green building models. The real innovation, though, is in how a government engages with the populace, industry, and various civil society organizations to make it a team effort.
- In order to promote green construction, the Indian government has also funded a number of programmes like the Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA). The ultimate goal of this system is a 30% reduction in resource usage. All central government and PSU buildings are required by law to receive at least 3-star ratings under GRIHA.
- IGBC (Indian Green Building Council) working towards the vision, “To enable a sustainable built environment for all and facilitate India to be one of the global leaders in the sustainable built environment by 2025”.
- Banks are coordinating to issue green bonds to finance for the construction of green structures, providing the long-term investment required for green initiatives.
People became aware of the value of green buildings owing to the pandemic and its aftereffects, which affected both users of the workplace and residential buildings. People in the post-Covid era are more concerned with their health, comfort, and well-being and would want to reside in buildings with superior ventilation systems, lots of natural light, and access to clean water. Naturally, goals are meaningless if the managing team doesn’t make an effort to monitor their fulfillment. Indicators are therefore put together for each purpose that can be used to evaluate a building’s state in order for it to perform better and be safer. Furthermore, helping companies with their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting.
Source
The case for Green Buildings in India (2023) ORF. Available at: https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/case-green-buildings-india/ (Accessed: April 23, 2023).
Sustainable development goals (2023) Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_Development_Goals (Accessed: April 23, 2023).
Pti (2018) ‘indian green building market to double by 2022’, The Hindu BusinessLine. Available at: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/real-estate/indian-green-building-market-to-double-by-2022/article23391602.ece (Accessed: April 23, 2023).
Author links open overlay panelMeenakshi Sharma et al. (2018) Development of a ‘green building sustainability model’ for Green Buildings in India, Journal of Cleaner Production. Elsevier. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652618311818 (Accessed: April 23, 2023).
Goel, E. et al. (2022) 10 green buildings in India that inspire the world, The Design Gesture. Available at: https://thedesigngesture.com/green-buildings-in-india/ (Accessed: April 23, 2023).
India CSR (2023) How green buildings enhance ESG performance in Indian Real Estate, India CSR. Available at: https://indiacsr.in/how-green-buildings-enhance-esg-performance-in-indian-real-estate/ (Accessed: April 23, 2023). Mioten, E. (2022) The rise of Sustainable Buildings, BusinessWorld Online. Available at: https://www.bworldonline.com/special-features/2022/07/18/464175/the-rise-of-sustainable-buildings/ (Accessed: April 23, 2023).
