Sampath Kumar Kabothu, Senior Counsellor, CII – IGBC
India’s green building movement started (with IndiaGBC’s headquarters) with a humble beginning of 20,000 sq.ft in the year 2001, which has now crossed 10.24 billion sq.ft. green building footprint with over 10,290 green building projects. In 2003, IndiaGBC headquarters achieved the status of First Platinum rated green building in India and later upgraded to Net Zero Energy building in 2019, to demonstrate and showcase the viability of Net Zero Energy buildings in the country.
IndiaGBC’s Executive Board later strategically chose to have a step-by-step approach for excellence in Net Zero Energy, Water and Waste subjects, and eventually achieve the target of Net Zero carbon.
At COP26 Summit in Glasgow in 2021, Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi made a statement that India will achieve the target of Net Zero Carbon Emissions by 2070. IndiaGBC’s vision and all its initiatives are fully aligned and committed to the national priorities, and India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate.
Subsequently, on Earth day in 2021, IndiaGBC launched ‘IGBC Mission on Net Zero’ with a vision ‘to facilitate India become one of the foremost countries in transforming to Net Zero by 2050’. A journey to achieve Net Zero buildings and built environments by 2050 in all aspects - Energy, Water, Waste and Carbon.
IndiaGBC strongly believes that the Mission on Net Zero would have far reaching impacts on the built environment in the country. So far, more than 350 organisations from the Indian building sector have committed to achieve the Net Zero status for their new and existing buildings.
Though there are few challenges, IndiaGBC with its rich experience of over 20 years is recommitted to transit and achieve the net zero carbon status for buildings and built environments in the coming years, through a multi-pronged approach and intermediate targets.
Sampath Kumar Kabothu, Senior Counsellor, CII – IGBC
During the last four years, IndiaGBC has launched exclusive rating systems on Net Zero Energy, Net Zero Water and Net Zero Waste to Landfill, to facilitate the projects achieve the Net Zero status for their buildings and campuses. IndiaGBC formed national committees with industry leaders and experts to develop these rating systems.
IndiaGBC is one of the eight founding members of WorldGBC since its inception in 2003. IndiaGBC is also among first few GBCs to join the WorldGBC’s global programme – Advancing Net Zero in 2016. IGBC’s Mission on Net Zero is in accord with the global programme, to achieve Whole Life Cycle Carbon for new and existing buildings by 2050.
In October 2021, IndiaGBC also launched a guidance framework for the businesses to adopt Net Zero Carbon principles in the buildings.
Presently 100+ projects across the country are adopting the IGBC Net Zero rating systems – Energy, Water, and Waste to Landfill. Based on the learnings from the pilot projects, many leading organisations in India have committed to embrace IGBC Net Zero rating tools to accelerate the adoption of Net Zero concepts for their entire portfolio projects.
IndiaGBC is closely working with several state and central government bodies (associated with Housing & Urban development, Environment, Renewable Energy, Power, and Water) and financial institutions (public & private) in the country on policy interventions and incentives. IndiaGBC is also collaborating with leading industry associations (of Developers, Architects, Landscape Architects, Interior Designers, Engineers) to advance the net zero agenda in the country.
