Green buildings are a hallmark of economically sound business decisions, thoughtful environmental decisions, and smart human impact decisions.
Rick Fedrizzi, former CEO of the U.S. Green Building Council
The construction industry today accounts for about 40% of global carbon dioxide emissions, a significant factor driving the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to support the creation of green building programs both globally and in Uzbekistan to prevent climate risks. Nodira Djalilova from Uzbek GBA and IFC consultant reported. The announcement was made during the event organized by Chapter Zero Uzbekistan, in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Centre for Research and Environmental Engineering (HPBS), which was dedicated to the development of green buildings in Uzbekistan's Tashkent on May 20.
Ilya Zavaleev, General Director of HPBS, noted the significant environmental impact of buildings, including architectural structures, shopping centres, and residential complexes. Non-green buildings contribute to 41% of energy consumption, 13.6% of water consumption, and 3.8% of CO2 emissions. In contrast, green buildings reduce energy consumption by 25%, water consumption by 11%, and CO2 emissions by 34%, while increasing tenant satisfaction by 27%. However, the green building movement aims to minimize the environmental impact of resource consumption.
What does EDGE certification mean?
EDGE is a green building certification system focused on making buildings more resource-efficient. An innovation of IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, EDGE empowers emerging markets to scale up resource-efficient buildings in a fast, easy, and affordable way.
EDGE enables developers and builders to quickly identify the most cost-effective strategies to reduce energy use, water use, and embodied energy in materials.
It is worth noting that green building aligns with sustainability goals through various rating systems. These systems help distinguish green buildings from non-green buildings by incorporating features such as energy efficiency, water conservation, recycling, lifecycle operation, charging stations for electric transport, and social well-being.
"The IFC Green programs is a constitutional project, which means that a major part of our work is advising the government. At the moment we are working with the Ministry of Construction to review and develop new SNC green building standards. At the same time, we are going to work on developing incentives that can help the market to increase the number of green buildings and make green buildings more attractive to the market," Nodira Djalilova stated.
The question was also raised as to what impact this kind of activity could have on reducing water consumption. Water conservation is an easy process in terms of technical implementation, but difficult in terms of the cultural aspect. By using water-saving plumbing, drip irrigation and rainwater harvesting, water consumption can be saved by up to 70%.
It is more difficult for green projects in Uzbekistan to achieve such a figure, as rain in this country can be called a luxury. For this reason, rainwater harvesting will not be as efficient as in countries where the climate would not cause such obstacles.
However, the Nur Residential Complex has successfully reduced water consumption from 23.5% to 17.9%, a difference of 5.6%, which is not insignificant for Uzbekistan. Water is one of the main problems in the Central Asian region and many experts have said that the only war that can happen in Central Asia is a war over a lack of water resources. Thus, by reducing water consumption even by about 6%, there is more time to solve this problem.
But are investors more interested in preventing climate risks than in increasing profits? Green certification can significantly improve a company's image and is a fairly good marketing move. Because people always want to live in the most comfortable conditions and the human factor comes into play: "Yes, I will pay a little more, but I will feel much better".
Therefore, investors in this case are rather more interested in money. In addition, investors will get access to capital, ESG reporting and ratings, class A commercial property, added value to the property, differentiation from competitors, international status, improved employee performance, property sales efficiency, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and an exceptional health environment.
The event emphasized the significance of green building programs in Uzbekistan, focusing on their role in improving resource efficiency and reducing environmental impact. Speakers highlighted the benefits of green certifications, discussing the necessity for new standards and incentives to promote sustainability in construction.
The discussion also addressed the challenges of water conservation, noting potential savings. The commitment to green building aligns with global sustainability goals and is essential for attracting international financing and ensuring environmentally responsible development.
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