November 24, 2023: CII’s Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) in partnership with the Tamil Nadu government on November 23, 2023, formally inaugurated its three-day annual conference Green Building Congress 2023 in Chennai. As part of the inaugural event, IGBC announced India’s first ‘Net Zero Carbon’ rating system. The reference guidelines of the Net Zero Carbon rating system publication formulated by IGBC were unveiled and released by Gurmit Singh Arora, national chairman of IGBC, Ajit Chordia, chairman of IGBC Chennai Chapter, Oliver Ballhatchet MBE, British deputy high commissioner of Chennai, Jamshyd N Godrej, chairman of CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre and Mahesh Anand, co-chairman or IGBC Chennai Chapter.
Along with the launch of the new Net Zero Carbon rating system, IGBC also released updated versions of its existing rating systems for existing buildings, green campuses and green factories.
Gurmit Singh Arora, chairman of IGBC and chairman of Green Building Congress 2023, said “The government of India over the last two decades has initiated several new missions and policies, which support the path towards net zero carbon buildings, cities and nation. The building sector of our country has an excellent opportunity to take the leadership role for accelerating the uptake of Net Zero. The Green Building Movement in India has been spearheaded by CII’s IGBC since 2001, by creating awareness amongst the stakeholders. Thus far, the council has been instrumental in enabling 10.42 billion square foot (sqft) of green building footprint in the country. The council’s activities have enabled a market transformation particularly in the green building materials and technologies. IGBC continuously works to provide tools that facilitate the adoption of green building practices in India. The newly launched Net Zero Carbon rating system is an initiative aimed at facilitating the adoption of Net Zero concepts to support market transformation towards total building sector decarbonisation and to accelerate the adoption of Net Zero concepts in the country.”
“The benefits of this rating system are multifaceted. Beyond supporting India’s climate goals through carbon reduction, it encourages resource efficiency, adoption of energy-efficient systems, integration of renewable energy sources, responsible water use, waste minimisation and climate-resilient building designs. The rating system presents an excellent opportunity for the building sector to lead the adoption of Net Zero practices and facilitate India’s transformation into one of the foremost countries achieving Net Zero by 2050,” Arora added.
Ajit Chordia, chairman of IGBC Chennai Chapter, said “We are sure this event will significantly contribute to reinforcing India’s position as a leader on the global green buildings map. We appreciate the Tamil Nadu government for its efforts towards achieving sustainable goals in the pursuit of moving towards Net Zero waste, water, energy and carbon. Tamil Nadu’s commitment towards the green building movement can be witnessed through many landmark projects such as the IGBC certified buildings – Anna Centenary Library, Chennai Metro Rail Limited, Smart Governance Centre and many more. This three-day conference is set to unearth many innovative models of achieving a Net Zero Carbon future and we are confident that there will be significant takeaways for everyone.”
The launch of IGBC Net Zero Carbon rating system is in alignment with ‘IGBC’s Mission on Net Zero’ launched on Earth Day in 2021 and India’s commitment at COP 26 i.e., achieving the long-term goal of reaching Net Zero carbon emissions by 2070. The rating system operates on a voluntary and consensus-based approach, promoting the use of low-embodied carbon materials and technologies, on-site or off-site renewable energy sources and adherence to a whole building life cycle analysis as per ISO standard 14040. The rating system addresses projects in both ‘design and construction’ and ‘operations’ phases. This approach allows tailored strategies for minimising or eliminating carbon emissions at different project stages.
Jamshyd N Godrej, chairman of CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre, said, “In case of green buildings, India has been looked at as a follower. We stand number two in the world, whereas in the case of net zero buildings we have a great opportunity to take a leadership position and make India number one country in the world. I am sure that the deliberations in the next three days will help the stakeholders to understand the strategies to be taken to achieve the common goal for Net Zero.”
B Thiagarajan, national vice chairman of IGBC, said “While going green is imperative in the built environment industry, there is also a greater emphasis that needs to be placed on the availability of technology and products that support in facilitating the transformation. For this, we have curated a large-scale exhibition space for various stakeholders in the value chain to showcase their innovative products. Over 1,000 products from across the globe will be displayed at the expo. The conference and the expo together will certainly be a stepping stone to create a conducive green future.”
The inaugural event also laid a platform for the guests to recognise and reward the winners of ‘Design for LiFE: Small Medium Large Solutions for a Sustainable Tomorrow’ – a design competition for students of architecture.
Dhwani is a content management expert with over five years of professional experience. She has authored articles spanning diverse domains, including real estate, finance, business, health, taxation, education and more. Holding a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication, Dhwani’s interests encompass reading and travelling. She is dedicated to staying updated on the latest real estate advancements in India.
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