Lobby to incorporate more ministries in green buildings drive

Green Buildings Council of Zimbabwe (GBCZ), a non-profit organisation led by Dr Mike Juru is advocating for more ministries to be involved in the green building drive to ensure the country adopts green buildings with the aim of tackling the effects of climate change.

Dr Juru said at present GBCZ is providing technical assistance to the ministries of Environment, Climate, and Wildlife, National Housing and Social Amenities and that of Local Government and Public Works.

He said there is a need to include ministries of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, Industry and Commerce and educational ministries.

“We are working in partnership or rather we are technical partners to the Environment, Climate and Wildlife on buildings issues that impact on climate.

“In that set up, we have the Ministry of National Housing and Social Amenities and ministry of Local Government and Public Works. At the moment we have these three ministries but beyond that, we need additional ministries such as the Ministry of Industry and Commerce for the materials that go into construction,” said Dr Juru.

“We also need to be talking about the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion to come in to assist because there are financial implications and there should be benefits to people who come up with green designs.”

The World Green Building Council defines green buildings as buildings which, in their design, construction or operation, reduce or eliminate negative impacts, and can create positive impacts, on the climate and natural environment.

Green buildings preserve precious natural resources and improve the quality of life.

There are a number of features that can make a building ‘green’, including the efficient use of energy, water and other resources, use of renewable energy such as solar, use of pollution and waste reduction measures, and the enabling of re-use and recycling.

Dr Juru said the concern of environment and sustainable development within the built environment had increased recently in Zimbabwe adding that there is need to upscale awareness programmes.

“Added to that, there should be awareness that comes with green buildings and that requires a buy-in from education institutions. People need to appreciate that the building industry contributes about 40 percent of carbon emissions and to address that we need to revisit our by-laws.”

Experts say, in order to make green building practices easier to implement, the ultimate goal is to develop technical services and resources for determining the greenness of buildings based on an appropriate green building compliance system.

The Environment ministry has developed the National Climate Policy and the National Climate Change Response Strategy, while the Energy ministry has developed the National Renewable Energy Policy, Energy Efficiency Policy, Net-Metering Regulations and Solar Water Heating Regulations.-chronicles