Vision
The building and construction sectors in India should endeavour to achieve radical reduction in their carbon footprints with the final aim to achieve carbon neutrality within a foreseeable time span with appropriate intermediate goal posts that are developed with broad-based consultations amongst different stakeholders of the sectors.
Mission
- Strive to create awareness amongst architects, engineers, contractors, material suppliers, building owners and users, infrastructure facilitators, policymakers etc. about the dangers of climate change and how the reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases – mainly carbon dioxide – from buildings and construction sectors can lessen the adverse effects of the climate change.
- Render help to architects, engineers, contractors, owners, etc. to evolve cost-effective solutions for reducing operational and embodied energy requirements of new buildings and construction.
- Encourage construction material suppliers to adopt Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) approach for assessing the Embodied Carbon Factor (ECF) of their products and share the duly validated ECF with the construction professionals to enable them to evaluate the embodied carbon contents of different alternative designs. This will help latter to choose the alternative having lowest embodied carbon.
- Propagate the ‘3-R’ techniques – Reduce, Recycle, Reuse – amongst construction professionals, encouraging them to use of solid and liquid waste management techniques so as to preserve the virgin, non-renewable resources for posterity.
- Encourage the use of locally-available building materials following the principles of circular economy. Also encourage study to explore if such materials can be innovatively modified in a cost-effective manner to ensure their structural effectiveness with lower carbon reduction potential.
- The architectural and structural design of buildings and infrastructure has evolved over ages in India, duly considering the climatic conditions and rich local heritage prevailing in different parts of the country. While ensuring that the rich Indian traditions are strengthened, efforts should be made to use modern tools and materials that help in reducing carbon footprints.
- Encourage R&D in the area of low carbon materials that have the potential to become alternatives to the currently used energy-intensive materials.
- Encourage experts from building and construction sectors to voluntarily participate in the work to “Evolve an India-specific Framework and Develop a Roadmap and for achieving Sweeping Reduction of Carbon in Buildings and Construction sectors in India”.
- Collaborate with like-minded organizations/bodies/individuals for exchange of knowledge and sharing of best practices that help in achieving reduction of carbon from buildings and construction.
- Encourage dialogue with different stakeholders in the building and construction sectors through dedicated website, blogs, webinars, fliers, newsletters, seminars, conferences, etc.