SUNREF India – Contribution to green housing in India

Subject : Science and Technology

Context-

National Housing Bank (NHB) organised the final event of SUNREF- India Housing Programme.

About the event-

The National Housing Bank (NHB) organised the final event for showcasing the contributions of the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources and Energy Financing (SUNREF) India Housing Programme toward green housing in the country on July 25, 2022.
CRISIL Risk and Infrastructure Solutions (CRIS) Limited is providing Technical Assistance to the SUNREF program.
The event saw the participation of more than 100 representatives from multilateral/bilateral agencies, housing finance companies, real estate developers, government agencies, green-building experts, architects, and green material producers from various parts of the country.
The EU and the Government of India are cooperating closely under the partnership on Smart and Sustainable Urbanisation.

SUNREF program-

Major contribution-
- The NHB’s efforts on enhancing green affordable housing in the country are in line with the Government of India’s priorities to support climate change.
- Over the past three years, SUNREF India Housing Programme has provided refinance of around Euro 100 million to 5300 households, of which more than 60 per cent are female owners and half of the households belong to lower income groups/ economically weaker sections.

What is a green building-

According to the World Green Building Council: “A ‘green’ building is a building that, in its design, construction or operation, reduces or eliminates negative impacts, and can create positive impact, on our climate and natural environment.

About green affordable housing-

Housing is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the Indian construction sector.
However, the rapid urbanisation is also giving rise to various challenges, including congestion; increasing pressure on basic amenities such as energy, water and natural resources; and, most importantly, unavailability of affordable homes for those at the bottom of the pyramid.
These challenges arises the need for green and affordable buildings in India.

Green building rating systems:

The overarching objective of the rating system is to ensure a high degree of sustainability with no/meagre profound impact on environmental conservation. Several green building labels are available in India, to rate and certify projects, namely

GRIHA is a rating tool that helps people assesses the performance of their building against certain nationally acceptable benchmarks.
It evaluates the environmental performance of a building holistically over its entire life cycle, thereby providing a definitive standard for what constitutes a ‘green building’.
The rating system, based on accepted energy and environmental principles, will seek to strike a balance between the established practices and emerging concepts, both national and international.

It is a part of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
It was formed in the year
Vision- To enable a sustainable built environment for all and facilitate India to be one of the global leaders in the sustainable built environment by
The council offers a wide array of services which include developing new green building rating programmes, certification services and green building training programmes.
The council also organises Green Building Congress, its annual flagship event on green buildings.

Used in over 100 countries,EDGE is a free software, a green building standard, and an international green building certification system.
A green building solution created by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, EDGE empowers one to optimize one’s designs to use less energy, water, and embodied energy in materials.

It aims to address the sustainability of a given development throughout its lifecycle from design through construction to operation.
GEM Sustainability Certification Reference Guide provides design guidance and detailed requirements for rating a project’s potential performance.