The World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA), in partnership with CDP(Carbon Disclosure Project), has assessed 50 companies across the building sector. The latest building benchmark assessment shows that 54% of companies do not have climate transition plans in place for a low-carbon future, and 44% do not have emissions reduction targets. Companies analyzed include JLL, Brookfield, China Evergrande, Country Garden, Greenland Holdings, Vonovia, New World Development, SEGRO, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Ayala, Gecina, Hyundai E&C, Lendlease, LEG Immobilien, Macrotech, Godrej, Mitsubishi Estate and Prologis. Read More

ASHRAE Standard 228-2023 sets requirements for evaluating whether a building or group of buildings meets the definition of “zero net energy” or “zero net carbon” during building operation. The Standard 228, drawing from ASHRAE Standard 105, addresses energy and carbon flows across a site boundary, as well as their measurement and balance.. It includes allowances for sites that lack the ability to generate adequate renewable energy. Read More

Global CEOs have pledged to reduce real estate emissions by 50% by 2030, and achieve net zero carbon, no later than 2050. The pledge aims to accelerate the transition to net-zero carbon emissions from buildings, which currently account for 40% of global energy consumption and 33% of global greenhouse gas emissions. This initiative brings together leading real estate companies, policymakers, and experts to drive the decarbonization of the built environment and support the goals of WEFs Green Building Principles and Action Plan, upholding the Paris Agreement. The CEOs’ pledge reflects a growing recognition of the urgency of addressing the climate crisis and the crucial role of the real estate sector in achieving global emissions reductions. Read More

Buildings’ energy intensity, defined as the amount of energy used by buildings, would need to improve by 30% globally by 2030 in order to meet the Paris Climate Agreement’s aims, the key goal of which is to keep global average temperature rise to 1.5°C. While the construction sector’s energy intensity continues to improve at a 1.5 percent annual rate, the roughly 2.3 percent increase in worldwide floor area has countered some of these gains. If no scaled action is done, building-related carbon emissions are expected to increase by 2050. Read more

Scottish Government is planning to mobilize £1.8 bn to cut carbon emissions from the built environment to a tune of 68% by 2030, helping the nation to realize its net zero goal by 2045. According to the Strategy, by 2030, over a million houses and the equivalent of 50,000 non-domestic structures will have to adapt to zero emissions heat. This could result in further advantages, such as the creation of 16,400 employment by 2030. According to the Strategy, between 2021 and 2026, roughly 124,000 low-carbon boiler and system alternatives would be required, with the installation rate peaking at over 200,000 new systems per year.

These strategies will help the country meet existing legislative goals, such as reducing national emissions by 75 percent by 2030, 90 percent by 2040, and ensuring that no more than 5% of households are fuel poor by 2040, no more than 1% are in extreme fuel poverty, and the fuel poverty gap is no more than £250. Read more

The Solar Decathlon India 2021-22 Challenge enables student teams to explore affordable building solutions that are innovative and forward looking. Student teams design resilient, net-zero-energy-water buildings for real building projects by partnering with the industry. These designs have to be innovative, affordable, practical, and market-ready.

In the 2021-2022  Challenge, participants are evaluated on the following Ten Contests: Energy Performance; Water Performance; Resilience; Affordability; Innovation; Scalability and Market Potential; Health; Architectural Design; Engineering and Operations; and Presentation. The designs proposed by participants are evaluated for all Ten Contests. 

Team registration began in July 12 2021 and ends on August 19 2021. Read more

The Advancing Net Zero (ANZ) Status Report 2021 states the achievements and endeavours of GBCs and the building and construction sector towards reducing carbon footprints. The report highlights actions from across the Green Building Council (GBC) network participating in WorldGBC’s global Advancing Net Zero project and trends & innovation on legislative and technological levels on Net zero.

One of the actions in the report included the launch of Indian GBC net zero water rating which aims to reduce water consumption and promote usage of alternate water to meet the water demand. Another highlight of achievement of IGBC was that a total of 277 organizations took pledge to work towards achieving IGBC net zero vision by 2050.  Read more

Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) has released a statement that the Kempegowda airport is net energy neutral in the financial year 2020-21; BIAL which manages the airport is successful in achieving 98% of its energy requirements from renewable energy sources and saving 22 lakh units of electricity in FY 2020-21 . The airport has adopted sustainable measures to reduce carbon footprints and increased energy efficiency of HVAC and illumination which has resulted in saving of over 17 lakh units (KWH) of power. Read more

COTE awards 10 design-projects every year for their significant achievements in advancing climate action on the basis of exemplary performance data, post occupancy lessons and integrated design excellence. Every building has adopted innovative measures to reduce carbon footprints and optimize the performance of the building. The buildings recognized under the COTE Awards have integrated sustainability factors in their day to day operations and most of them have on-site energy generating power-plants. Read more

The Ministry of Environment of Finland launched a website which guides people about the ways to offset carbon emissions thereby reducing carbon footprints so that everybody learns and comes together to fight climate change and global warming. The webpage is a resource to create awareness about the energy saving potential by customizing information as per the Users’ interests in Housing, Energy Efficiency or Renewable Energy Sources. The Ministry stresses that environmentally friendly choices improve the quality of housing while reducing costs. Read more

ITC Hotels, the world’s largest chain of hotels with the maximum number of LEED Platinum Certified Properties has been accorded yet another distinction by the USGBC (United States Green Building Council), making ITC Windsor, Bengaluru the first hotel in the world to achieve the LEED Zero Carbon Certification. ITC Windsor is powered by its own wind turbine generators and uses innovative energy efficient technologies such as electrical boiler, induction burners and other renewable energy. Read More

Satellite Vu has raised a $5m seed round led by Seraphim Capital to launch the world’s first satellite constellation of miniature satellites capable of imaging the thermal footprint of any building on the planet every 1-2 hours. The constellation is enabled with high resolution IR cameras to record heat signatures of a natural and built environment located anywhere in the world. The data of the heat signatures will help to identify and implement energy efficient reforms in an energy wasting building. The constellation of satellites is due to be launched in 2022. Read more