1. LOW CARBON
PATHWAYS FOR
DEVELOPMENT
A CASE OF THE CONSTRUCTION
SECTOR
ZEENAT NIAZI, DEVELOPMENT
ALTERNATIVES. DECEMBER 2013
South Asian Parliamentarians and Policymakers at
Work: Sub-Regional Conference

2. Prime concerns for South Asia
poverty, vulnerability, food-water-energy
security, livelihoods

3. The key concern we often
ignore

Environmental degradation due to Anthropogenic
activity

4. The linked picture





Drivers of change
Pressures on the natural
capital
Changes in State of
environment
Impacts on social and
economic development
Sustainable Responses
needed
DRIVERS
RESPONSE
IMPACT
PRESSURES
STATE

5. Drivers of change
Population
 Urbanisation
 Lifestyles
 Climate Change

DRIVERS
RESPONSE
PRESSURES
IMPACT
STATE

6. South Asia- some of the fastest
growing cities in the world


By 2020, Mumbai
will be the
second largest
city in the
world, closely
followed by
Delhi, and
Dhaka.
With Karachi and
Kolkata, 5 of the
world’s 11
megacities (10+
million) will then
be in South Asia.

7. Urbanisation and Lifestyles


32% of India’s population lives
in urban areas, this is
projected to become 50% by
2050
A global middle
Class Explosion
(wri, 2013)
2 billion
(2010) 5 billion (2030)
 90% of the 3 billion
growth will be in Asia –
mostly India and China
 1billion(1990)

8. Source : WRI, 2013

9. Source : WRI, 2013

10. Source : WRI, 2013

11. Pressures on the Natural EcoSystem





Land – Change in land use
Materials – increased
extraction –
soils, stones/aggregates, m
etals
Water – increased
demand, increased
transpiration or sudden
deluge, reduced flows
Air – green house gas
emissions, temperatures
changes
Energy – demand for fuel/
electricity
DRIVERS
RESPONSE
PRESSURES
IMPACT
STATE

12. Pressures on land

Land-use change  agriculture, forest
cover, hydrological changes, land-fills, disasters

13. Urbanisation and pressures for
more and new materials


Worldwide buildings
account for upto 30%
raw materials use
In India 2011, gross
built up urban area
grew by 10% (CII)
 Materials
for new and
expanding housing
needs, poor as well as
middle class

14. Pressures for more and new
materials
Source : UNEP-IRP, report on

15. Pressures on the Available Carbon
Space


A major share, almost 80% of the GHG burden
of the sector, is borne by the building
materials alone.
Cement, steel, lime and bricks are the largest bulk
consumption items in the construction industry
and also the most energy-guzzling.
Production of cement in India increased by 56% to
228.3 Mt between 2000 and 2011.
 The Indian steel industry also witnessed an increase
in production of over 300% between 1994–1995 and
2008–2009.
 The brick sector in India has an annual demand for
over 200 million bricks.


16. Pressure on energy resources and
climate


Firing is highly
energy-intensive
and resourceinefficient with a coal
consumption of
around 20–30 tons
for every100, 000
bricks
The sector produces
41.6 Mt of CO2
emissions annually

17. Conflicts with Food Security


South Asia is the
World’s largest
producer of bricks
with an annual
production of
approximately 200
billion only in India.
Annually 350
million MT of top
soil are lost to brick
making competing
with agricultural
yield and exerting
pressure on food
security.

18. Changes in the State of
Environment





Increasing fragility of land
and water resources - Ecosystem Services
Water - hydrological
changes, quality and quantity
Increasing pollution of land
water and air
Weather conditions –
increased
uncertainties, sudden and
extreme weather events
Climate – changes in
temperature and precipitation
regimes
DRIVERS
RESPONSE
IMPACT
PRESSURES
STATE

19. Impacts on human and eco-system
well- being







Food security
Water security
Health
Price rise and reduced
accessibility housing, watersanitation, energy services,
Increasing disasters
Vulnerable
land, society, economy
Climate Change
DRIVERS
RESPONSE
PRESSURES
IMPACT
STATE

21. Impacts on human and eco-system wellbeing



Excessive mining – changes in hydrological
systems
Deforestation - desertification
Air and water quality and human health

22. Responses Needed

Low carbon pathways
for development
efficiencies
 Resource shifts/
alternative materials
DRIVERS
 Resource
RESPONSE
IMPACT
PRESSURES
STATE

23. Responses Needed


24. Examples of Current Good
Practice







Materials and technology
Delivery systems – supply systems
Skills and capacity building
Standards, norms, regulations
Market development and demand creation
Financing and fiscal measures
Policies and guidelines

25. Priority Area –
Cleaner Production - Greener
Materials





Low in embodied energy
Low in resource footprints
Cleaner production processes
Contribute to thermal comfort
Recyclable / Reusable – low
life cycle costs

26. Opportunities for Green
Materials




Recycled and alternate
building materials saves 12
to 40 % of the total energy
used during materials
production
Adoption of energy efficient
brick production measures
can contribute to savings of
100 million tonnes of
CO2e/year by 2020.
100 million USD market
opportunity for green
materials and products (CII)

27. Current Best Practice Materials




Cement - Blended cements – cost benefit and
business sustainability by reducing mining of
raw limestone
Current practices routinely replace up to 30%
or more of the Portland cement with blended
materials. In India, the share of blended
cement now accounts for 75% of all
production.
Industrial wastes – Fly-ash, stone dust
Manufactured sand – ban on mining and river
dredging coupled with a huge demand

28. Current Best Practice Technology





Bricks - Low carbon alternatives
like better firing practices
(VSBK, HHK), Stabilised
Compressed Earth
Blocks, Aerated Blocks and Fly
Ash bricks.
Prefabricated building
products for roofing, door-frames
using Cleaner Production
Systems
Low Water sanitation systems
Water recycling and treatment
systems
Passive design techniques

29. Current Best Practice – Policy
Measures





Mandatory use of Fly-Ash in all buildings 100
kms from source of ash
Part-Limestone replacement by Fly-Ash in
cement
Banning of moveable chimney brick kilns and
sand mining and soil extraction in some sates
Market linked fossil fuels price
Energy Conservation Building Energy Codes

30. Mainstreaming Alternatives –
A Case of Fly-Ash

Fly-ash bricks –
 Public
policy
 Technology solution
 Equipment providers
 Competitive pricing
 Appropriate scales of
production that range from
micro to medium and offsite and on-site systems

31. Thrust Areas
Technical
Knowledge &
Skill
Policy &
Regulation
Business and
Finance

32. Imperatives for mainstreaming

Policy environment
 Mandatory
public procurement guidelines to
include green materials
 Fiscal incentives and priority financing for SMEs
to facilitate setting up green building material
production facilities
 Clean technology (pollution) norms for all material
production systems increasing competitive value
for cleaner production

33. Imperatives for mainstreaming

Technical supports and
services
 Training
of contractors, artisans
and engineers
 Certification of skills for green
construction
 Standard
specifications, construction
details, best practice
benchmarks and eco-mark for
building materials

34. Imperatives for mainstreaming

Business Environment
 Land
and infrastructure
supports for SMEs
 Aggregation services that
enable developers to
access green materials at
scale
 Industry partnerships and
investments for Green
Material production and
delivery

35. Gaps – what the elected legislators must
do





Recognize that the socio-economic development of
your electorate depends on a robust and healthy ecosystem.
Ask for / demand your ministries and science-policy
research institutes to provide environmental costbenefits of development strategies and plans – short
medium and long term
Raise the issue of long term development based on
sound environmental knowledge in public and
parliamentary debates
Promote greener / low carbon development options
in your constituencies – show by example
Track the development progress in your
constituency through an environmental lens

36. Thank You for your
patience.
