Executive Dialogue 6 – Advancing Construction Sector- Decarbonising through Alternate Materials and Demand Optimisation Techniques

Session Brief: The construction sector is highly fragmented with different stages, processes and different stakeholders, and each stakeholder has an impact on the GHG emissions in the entire building life cycle. Therefore, to effectively de-risk the sector from climate risks while continuing to innovate and provide a sustainable habitat, greater participation and coordinated action is required from all the key players in the entire value chain. Population and economic growth have fostered urbanisation in India, and the number of urban towns and cities is increasing drastically. This increasing urbanisation is leading to a rampant rise in the construction of buildings and housing projects. According to AEEE’s estimates, India's total building floor area will be around 30 billion m2 by 2038 from 15.8 billion in 2015. This growth would also spur the demand for conventional construction materials like cement, steel, bricks, glass, etc. Yet, these construction materials are highly energy and emissions-intensive and are responsible for the embodied carbon from the building and construction sectors. They must change in the decade of climate action even more so because the embodied carbon content in India’s buildings, especially in residential construction, is much higher; the way we used and still are building needs to change as our PM has pledged to decarbonise its economy by 2070 at COP 26. To fulfil these targets and commitments, it requires a clear and focused strategy with a holistic approach covering all phases of building construction, from the extraction of building raw materials to the disposal and recycling of demolition waste.

This session attempts to address the embodied carbon from the construction sector through discussions around the material efficiency methods in this sector.