Minimising carbon footprint in urbanising India

Today, the climate change threat is a real and present danger, acknowledged by mankind across the globe. The sea-level rise along the Indian coast will be 30-80 cm over the next century endangering the lives and livelihood of the population residing in many urban centres that include major cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai. That calls for an immediate action by the Real Estate sector in the climate-resilient infrastructure developments and homes.

India is fully committed to attaining the UN’s sustainable development goals to reduce its carbon footprint by 30-35 per cent from the 2005 level by the deadline of 2030.

For years, the real estate and construction sector received censure and warnings, but as the country pledged to make its contribution in mitigating the damages, the sector needs to overhaul the way it does business. The target to decarbonise was adopted with the launch of dedicated urbanization programmes. This would also enable to achieve ‘Ease of Living’ as another prime objective.

 Making the case for change

As we know, rising sea levels, melting of glaciers are the perils of rising geo-climatic risk.

As the data from the geology survey of India reveals more flood-prone locations across Coastal India regions, problems like extreme heat, rainfall, cyclones, earthquakes, erratic monsoons, floods and storms will be witnessed in near future.

Homes act as a shelter -a shield against all crises, it offers protection and hence residential development needs to be revamped and redesigned with resilience. Home designs and planning need to adhere to climate change parameters. The new development needs to be calamities resistant with more sustainable components.

Real Estate developers need to constantly evaluate climate risk factors and they need to work on sustainable models and metrics for assessing climatic disaster management.

In short, the RE industry needs to calculate the development risk to the environment with short- & long-term infrastructure planning and provisions in mind that will negate the effects of climate change on housing.

The time has come for the sector to initiate real action on climate change.

Policies to the rescue

Since 2014, there have been massive investments in urbanisation including housing through the Prime Minister’s Awaas Yojana, sanitation through the Swachh Bharat Mission, modern cities through the SMART cities programme.

In order to allay and reduce the culpability of the sector towards climate change, the government has launched a global housing technology challenge to tap into sustainable solutions. Many practical solutions will be sought in the housing technology challenge to make buildings and dwellings more sustainable

The launch of a dedicated urbanisation programme has propelled the sector towards sustainable development. The ‘lighthouse projects’ under the programme will come up in six varied geo-climatic zones which can be emulated as per local conditions.

However, a key competitive differentiator will be moving faster than the mandatory regulation to demonstrate concern which is invaluable in today’s parlance while climate and social awareness has a bigger role to play

Time for real action

Green Living, Green Engineering and Green Building, is the new mantra for futuristic housing. There are various factors to revolutionise the sector, companies need to think about even better solutions to largely limit the temperature rise.

There exists a serious discussion and detailed blueprint for more equitable and sustainable cities ‘smart eco-cities as the answer to the rapid urbanisation era. The concept of an eco-city is defined as a human settlement modelled on the self-sustaining resilient structure and function of a natural ecosystem. Simply put, an eco-city is an ecologically healthy city. 

The need of the hour is to marry evolving technology to sustainability goals as reuse, recycle and replenish is the new mantra of future living. There are four specific areas towards the journey of decarbonisation …

Energy Management:  Every new building needs to be energy efficient.  As per the research agencies, the share of electricity with cooling equipment, moist resistance per home unit will be tripled by 2030 globally, hence, renewable energy installation is a significant dimension towards self–sufficiency. Natural cooling systems, open airy layouts, green abodes will be the integrated features of the building of the future. Usage of solar & wind power is mandatory to move away from polluting non fossil fuels.

Re-usage:  Re-usage is the keyword when it comes to water and building materials. Every building needs to act as a material repository for materials to be reused in construction. Recycling and replenishing waste & debris has to be thoughtful. Recycling of water is a right and effective measure that will reduce the groundwater consumption by at least 30%

Sustainable development: Decarbonisation in RE needs alternatives in materials, designs etc. Solar & hydro energy, hydrogen fuels, sewage & water treatment, rainwater harvesting, green ecosystem, biodegradable waste, etc. are imperative features or attributes in future real estate development. Offering thermal comfort in homes- analysing layouts, green cover and choice of building materials used are also crucial. Natural disaster resistance while absorbing extreme moisture or heat, with a strong geographic foundation will be a significant factor.

Apart from the above strides, there needs to be a substantial emphasis on insurance, such as home insurance entitlement is significant in case of covering multiple calamities. The Title Insurance Policy of IRDAI is a step in the right direction with several policy benefits to the homebuyers.

The real estate industry should be made financially secured, prepared for an emergency, invest in sustainable infrastructure, and make commitments to energy efficiency and science-based decision-making. The data management and business intelligence tools should be integrated to assess and assist in well-informed business decisions. The due diligence screens must incorporate the accelerating risks posed by climate change, fiscal policy constraints, critical infrastructure investment, and repair and replacement. Significantly, future investment models that are being developed by the real estate industry are likely to be rewarding such long-term planning. Alongside, industry players should adopt ‘Conscious Consumerism’ practices in product and services development which calls for business decisions having a positive impact on social-economical-ecological goals.

Conclusion

The goals set in front of the Real estate sector is no less than a revolution in itself, for which the champions of the sector will have to move swiftly. Whatever may have propelled the change, the sector’s newfound enthusiasm, ambition to reduce its negative impact is unquestionably a positive and vital step in the climate mitigation efforts.

The writing on the wall cannot be clearer than this and in the case of climate change, it says clearly, ‘change or perish’ or nature will take on its own corrective measures.

Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani, National Vice Chairman – NAREDCO and MD, Hiranandani Group