Paving the way towards a Greener world - Green Building Certifications

Having spent over two decades immersed in Energy, Sustainability, and Climate Action, I've seen firsthand how green building certifications are transforming the real estate market towards sustainability. By driving actions beyond what is generally termed “Business as usual” or “code compliance”, these certification standards have managed to bring significant changes to the way-built environment is perceived by the stakeholders, especially those that are pioneering the industry. While this trend is continuing, forward looking developers with sustainability ingrained in their philosophy are demonstrating leadership by intertwining green building certification requirements as part of their development mandate; This voluntary commitment is a stark contrast to current practices where there is a proclivity to merely comply with the codes to get the building permits. Adding positivity at the global level, cities, municipalities and regulatory bodies have started, albeit in a conservative manner, integrating sustainability considerations into their permitting processes, thereby slowly but steadily ramping up the requirements. This is on the back of challenges posed by the vagaries of climate change, necessitating national level climate ambitions and net zero targets. The built environment is a key puzzle in this ambition, being responsible for over a third of global emissions.

Green building rating and certification systems assess and recognize buildings that meet certain sustainability requirements or standards. There are several green building rating systems across the globe and their developments have been governed by the demands and challenges of the industry in a specific region or context. The type and stringency of the sustainability criteria, compliance requirements stipulated, evidence required to demonstrate the compliance, and the assessment methodologies are the key factors which differentiate the rating systems. Having said that, all the rating systems align towards common environmental indicators such as energy, water, waste, indoor air quality, sustainable materials, health & well-being and others. LEED (US), BREEAM (UK), CASBEE (Japan), DGNB(Germany), GBCS (Korea), Green Star (Australia), Green Mark (Singapore), and IGBC (India) are few of the rating systems that are being followed by various nations in setting new global standards for environmental responsibility.

Rating systems such as LEED and BREEAM have managed to impact developments beyond their home ground so much so that they have become popular global standards that the industry embraces. ??Their principles have resonated globally, and in some cases adapted to local contexts to promote sustainability metrics. Green Mark Singapore too is emerging as a prominent one in Asia and beyond. In nutshell, these standards aim to propel and drive sustainability in cities and built environments through cutting-edge technologies and rigorous environmental benchmarks.

The greatest challenge, however, is in internalizing the green building commitments into the organization ethos and development strategies, which I believe is not well understood by the industry. This gap is largely due to limited awareness, inadequate representation, silo approach and poor communication amongst the team. The green building design and development process can only be as strong as the weakest link in the ecosystem by which I refer to the multitude of stakeholders across development, design, construction, facilities management, community management and the supply chain, who are all expected to work in unison in this journey. Very often, green building certification is seen as a mundane exercise of juggling documents, conveniently left to external consultants. It is extremely important for organizations to develop a well-thought-out strategic approach to implementing and embracing sustainability standards in their developments. The process starts with leadership commitment and in my opinion, developments that commence with a strong sustainability direction from the management, have managed to navigate the process with a high level of success, as opposed to others. I have seen this in action in Sobha Realty, where there is a clear leadership commitment to instill sustainability right from concept to completion and operation. Sobha Realty’s highly successful backward integrated model comprising the whole ecosystem of development, design, construction, facilities management, modular, furniture, community management and others, ensures that the commitment, responsibility and accountability gets cascaded across the group without any dilution. This judicious combination of leadership commitment, in-house capability, sustainability integration, and seamless coordination within the departments has been extremely impactful in our sustainability journey. All our current projects are pursuing different levels of global green building certification, which by default is expected to optimize energy and water consumption by 15% and 40% respectively compared to the benchmarks. The buildings are designed to reduce the embodied carbon of select materials by more than 10% and further utilize several materials with environmental product declaration (EPD), which brings transparency to the environmental impact of materials. Multifunctional teams work in tandem during design of outdoor spaces, microclimate, thermal comfort, indoor air quality and renewable energy to achieve optimum sustainability. Through the above strategies, the design and development of green buildings is well-coordinated which provides the residents with the most resource efficient and climate friendly spaces, which they proudly call their homes.

While the purpose of these sustainability frameworks is to enhance the environmental performance in terms of energy efficiency, water efficiency, health & wellbeing, emissions and others, there is very often this notion that certification of a building design automatically translates into achieving those objectives; this cannot be farther from the truth. The “proof of the pudding is in the eating” and the buildings have to be judged by their performance and not by certification alone. Sobha Realty strongly advocates the concept of “truly performing buildings” which refers to those buildings that go beyond certifications to deliver true value and performance, as per their design commitments. These are clear differentiators that demonstrate Sobha Realty’s commitments to sustainability and climate action.

Sobha Realty exemplifies this commitment in the Middle East, pursuing green building certifications and advancing net-zero emissions goals across its portfolio. Their integrated sustainability practices set them apart in a competitive market, enhancing property values and reducing operational costs through energy efficiency.

Beyond market differentiation, green building certifications foster a culture of innovation, encouraging developers to adopt emerging technologies for sustainable growth. In the face of climate urgency, these certifications guide stakeholders towards resilient, resource-efficient urban landscapes, contributing to a sustainable and equitable future.

As we pave the way towards a greener world, let's seize opportunities to innovate and collaborate, ensuring sustainability becomes the cornerstone of urban development.

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