News Context: India’s First City-Specific Zero Carbon Buildings Action Plan (ZCBAP) launched in Nagpur.
What are Zero Carbon Buildings?
- Zero carbon buildings are buildings that improve their lifecycle environmental performance through measures that reduce embodied, operational and end-of-life GHG emissions without compromising visual and thermal comforts.
About ZCBAP:
- Nagpur’s ZCBAP aims to achieve net-zero carbon emissions in all buildings by 2050, contributing to India’s ‘net zero by 2070’ target.
- ZCBAP in Nagpur has been developed jointly with implementing partners of Zero Carbon Building Accelerator (ZCBA) project.
- ZCBAP project was launched by the World Resources Institute (WRI) in 2021 along with its global partners. o Nagpur is one of six global cities (other in Kenya, Costa Rica, Turkey, and Colombia) where ZCBA project is being implemented.
Need for ZCBAP:
- India’s building related Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions have more than doubled from 2000 to 2017.
- Over next 20-30 years, GHG emissions from India’s steel and cement industry are estimated to increase by nearly three and six times respectively.
- Brick kilns are another major source of carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, Nitrous Oxide (NOx), and other particulate emissions.
- Nagpur’s ZCBAP builds upon national policy frameworks and initiatives supporting building decarbonization, which include:
- India’s Nationally Determined Contributions o India’s Long-Term Low-Carbon Development Strategy
- Energy Conservation Building Code, 2017
- Green Building Rating Systems such as Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) and o Eco-Niwas Samhita 2018.
