Attend an event on efficient and affordable housing in India

Author: 
Sarah Buente

GBCI invites you to attend an upcoming leadership event, A Sustainable EDGE, on April 25 in Bengaluru. Come learn about the EDGE green building program and how it presents a unique opportunity for a sustainable transformation of India’s housing market. Building industry experts including architects, developers and government policymakers will share their thoughts and experiences with EDGE.

An innovation of IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, EDGE is a green building certification system focused on making buildings more resource-efficient. EDGE is a fast, simple and affordable way to scale up buildings in emerging markets. GBCI has partnered with IFC to address the challenges emerging markets face.

A Sustainable EDGE

When: April 25, 2018, 14:00–18:30
Where: ITC Windsor, 25, Windsor Square, Golf Course Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560052

Register to attend.

The challenges of a rapidly expanding market

By 2030, it is expected tha the world will have 8.6 billion people, and 1.5 billion of them will reside in India. In fact, India alone is expected to double its building stock by 2030, and 70 percent of those buildings still haven’t been built. Urbanization has created a huge demand for new construction and infrastructure. To accommodate this massive population shift, many new homes will need to be constructed, which means an aggressive use of natural resources.

The construction sector in India is massive; industry reports from the Indian real estate market reveal that the market is expected to touch 180 billion USD by 2020. The housing sector alone contributes 5–6 percent to the country’s GDP, and from 2008 to 2020, the market size of this sector is expected to increase 11.2 percent.

According to some figures, as much as three-quarters of all new construction in India in the next few years will be residential. Yet despite all of the growth, there exists a large gap in the supply of affordable homes. Also, India’s growing residential market is one of the highest contributors to the country’s carbon emissions, accounting for 22 percent of the construction sector’s electricity consumption.

EDGE as a solution for India

Given all of this, resource-efficient and affordable homes are needed in urban India. They form a crucial part of the strategy to alleviate impacts of development and climate change, and India needs to move toward affordable green housing projects in order to keep pace with market trends.

Enter EDGE—the program has great potential for the housing market in India because it simply makes economic sense. The EDGE rating system provides a quantifiable business case that resonates with sectors of the market that have been slow to change, encouraging more affordable housing in high-growth, urban areas and making green building and design accessible for middle and low-income housing. Deployed at scale, it can also help build more sustainable cities.

Taking into account occupancy, the owner’s income level and unit sizes, EDGE creates a benchmark model for homes and apartments. A developer’s design team can then select from such practical solutions as reflective paint, energy-efficient ceiling fans and water-conserving fixtures to create homes of outstanding value. Each homeowner receives an EDGE certificate as proof of delivery on the promise to build green.

Consider the fact that those living in traditional, low-income housing in India often spend a high proportion of their disposable income on their utility bills. By making the right choices at the design stage through EDGE, you can lower utility bills, develop affordable homes and command a higher resale price at the same time. EDGE also enables communities to reduce their carbon footprint through lower greenhouse gas emissions, while also helping emerging market regions save money by minimizing operating costs and boosting efficiency.

Questions? Contact Rohith Ravula, GBCI, by email or by phone at 900.014.1622.

Register for the event