ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam on Thursday claimed that efforts were underway to introduce energy efficient green building structures to help reduce negative impacts on climate and natural environment.

“The Ministry of Climate Change is presently working with various relevant stakeholders on the development of the green building code for promoting concept of the green building construction activities. This will help reduce carbon footprints and environmental degradation of new construction activities at all levels, he said.

He was speaking at a workshop on ‘Implementation opportunities and gaps for the development of green building code for Pakistan’ held at a local hotel.

At the event, which was organised by the climate change ministry in support with the EU Programme, UN Environment Programme and UN-Habitat, he also called upon participants to deliberate on a roadmap for implementation opportunities and gaps for development of green building code for Pakistan.

The participants included professionals and stakeholders from academia, national regulatory bodies of engineering, architecture and town planning, builders and developers and civil society organisations.

Mr Aslam said: “Experts should draw up the roadmap for the development of a green building code, which takes into consideration our ecological diversity, extreme weather events and is resilient to climate change impacts triggered by increasing frequency and intensity of temperature and rainfall.”

He expressed his confidence that adopting green building practices on all types of construction activities would make building structures and processes environmentally-responsible and resources-efficient throughout the building’s life cycle.

As a result, substantial savings could be made through integrated planning and adopting environment-friendly designs by involving architects, engineers, city planners, contractors and clients to develop an optimal design in terms of technology, materials and energy savings.

Moreover, the construction of green buildings will also support in achieving certain benefits, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals, he said.

Mr Aslam added that the realisation of green building code, which also would be mainstreamed into the Prime Minister’s five million Naya Pakistan Housing programme, would be crucial in creating a market demand and uptake of green building techniques and practices in the country.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2021