At the outset, we would like to extend a hearty welcome to the members of newly-constituted “ LCCF Advisory Board ”. The Board includes eminent personalities having vast experience and knowledge and proclivity for innovations. LCCF would undoubtedly benefit a lot from the advice and suggestions received from these luminaries. We are indeed grateful to all of them for agreeing to be on the LCCF Advisory Board and are looking forward to a fruitful long-term association with them.

The last quarter witnessed publication of three important reports. Out of these, two documents are released as the Sixth Assessment Reports by the Working Group II and III from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The third report is on the State of India’s Environment-2022 India’s published by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi.

Like earlier reports, the latest reports from IPCC again reiterate the devastating and alarming nature of the climate change-induced impacts. The summary of the report from Working Group II emphasises that climate impacts are already more widespread and severe than expected and that the risks will escalate quickly with higher temperatures, often causing irreversible impacts¹. This report underlines that adaptation and achieving climate-resilient development are crucial. The summary of the report from IPCC’s Working Group III highlights that the global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions witnessed 54% increase from 2010 to 2019². Although the current emissions are highest historically, yet the rate of their growth has fortunately declined! The report further points out that for limiting the global warming to around 1.5°C, it would be vital to reduce GHG emissions by 43% by 2030 – an uphill task indeed! The summery of IPCC report for policymakers finally states that “Climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health. Any further delay in concerted anticipatory global action on adaptation and mitigation will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all”¹.

The third report on the State of India’s Environment-2022 by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is a comprehensive, 476-page treatise on India’s environment-related sectors. Some highlights of the CSE report as published in Down-to-Earth are included elsewhere in this Newsletter. It is reported that India’s achievements in some 13 sectors are lower than the targets and that the country stands at 120^th rank amongst 192 countries in meeting the sustainable development goals. It would not be appropriate for us to comment on the achievements or otherwise in some sectors like economy, agriculture, employment, etc. as they fall beyond the scope of LCCF. In sectors having direct bearing on climate like drinking water availability, energy, air pollution, solid waste management, etc. the achievements varies from 33% to 78% of the targets. Interestingly, Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) report published jointly by Germanwatch e. V., Climate Action Network (CAN) and NewClimate Institute observed that India maintained its 10^th rank in 2022, while the USA, China and EU fared poorly³. The report rates India’s performance “high” in the GHG emissions, energy use and climate policy categories and “medium” in renewable energy category. However, there is no room for complacency as a lot more needs to be done in climate-centric sectors where the challenges are indeed daunting and demanding.

LCCF believes that one of the useful tools to mitigate carbon emissions is to drastically reduce the fossil fuel-based requirements of both operational and embodied energies from the building and construction sectors. As far as the reduction in operational energy requirements from buildings is concerned, LCCF whole-heartedly welcomes the recent initiative of “Net Zero Energy Buildings” launched by the CII-Godrej Green Business Centre (CII-GBC). This issue includes a brief article on this initiative by Mr S Karthikeyan and Dr Shivraj Dhaka . The article highlights the exercise of retrofitting a platinum rated building into a net-zero energy building. It is heartening to note from that CII-GBC has undertaken more than 25 net-zero energy building projects currently and are working with over 70 key corporates in India to convert their buildings/corporate offices into net zero energy buildings. This is indeed a great beginning in the net-zero energy building movement in India. While there is a need to strengthen this movement, the residential building sector in India also need to aggressively tap renewable energy to fulfil their day-to-day operational needs to the maximum possible extent.

Substantial reduction in embodied carbon is also possible, provided the building and the construction industry starts adopting the the so-called “material efficient design”. Adequate guidance is available on this topic in the form of published reports (for example, IStructE⁴ document) and a number of technical papers. It is high time that construction industry professionals in India take cognisance of this trend.

As India has embarked upon infrastructure development – dire necessity for improving the connectivity and enhancing the livelihood of its peoples – shortage of coarse aggregates is being felt in certain pockets in the North India, especially in the Indo-Gangetic plains, where the aggregates are required to be sourced from longer distances. For overcoming this problem, “Nano Concrete Aggregates”, are developed by the Institute for Solid Waste Research & Ecological Balance (INSWAREB), using 65-75% fly ash and small percentage of cement and other additives. A press release on this topic from INSWAREB is included in this issue.

After the publication of the first issue of the LCCF Newsletter, we have received a number of feedbacks. Two typical feedbacks are included under the Forum column.

Happy reading!!

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