OPENING DOORS TO ZERO CARBON BUILDING PORTFOLIOS

The truth is harsh. To meet the demands of the Paris Agreement and combat the climate emergency facing the globe, every building in the world needs to be Zero Carbon by 2050—less than 30 years from now. The Indian government has also committed to achieve net zero emissions for the entire economy by 2070. Achieving net zero carbon emissions in the construction sector is relatively easier and less expensive as compared to other sectors, through a combination of energy efficiency and renewable energy. A zero carbon building is at least 40% more energy efficient than business as usual and is fully powered from renewable energy. Organizations like the World Green Building Council have been calling on companies, cities, states, regions, and organizations to reach net-zero operating emissions in their portfolios by 2030, and for all buildings to be net zero in operations by 2050. This will be critical to limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius by mid-century.

- Sarah Santucci

Although many large Indian corporations like Tata, Reliance, Mahindra, ITC, ACC, Adani, Infosys and Dalmia Cement have pledged to achieve carbon neutrality, their journey on greening their building portfolio is just starting. Currently, zero carbon buildings number in the hundreds worldwide, despite rapid growth in new green building certification in general. A few Indian buildings, such as the newly constructed Stallion Laboratories in Ahmedabad have taken the first step towards meeting the zero carbon standard using International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) EDGE green building certification system.

While greening the new building stock is essential, existing buildings should not be ignored, as they constitute over 80% of the Indian building stock. Existing buildings contribute more than 40% of the world’s current greenhouse gas emissions from energy use. That makes them a target for public policy reform. In response, long term investors like pension funds and financial institutions are analyzing the energy efficiency of their portfolios. Focus is fast switching from new stock, which has always been the easiest to green, to the challenge of greening existing building stock.

EDGE’s new Zero Carbon Retrofit Protocol allows asset owners to map a quantified path to zero carbon and attain immediate recognition through certification. Leading the way, one company in the Philippines has recently become the first in the world to certify their entire portfolio of buildings under the EDGE Zero Carbon Retrofit Protocol.

Meet the New Standard: “The NEO Way”