The importance of environmental stewardship and the growing need for adopting sustainable development principles is gaining significance globally. The World Green Building Council’s Global Status Report 2017 states that Buildings & Construction, together are responsible for 39% of global energy-related carbon emissions.
Building Operation related emissions account for 28% of these emissions, while the remaining 11% come from embodied carbon emissions that is associated with materials and processes throughout the lifecycle of the built environment.
Increasing use of recycled construction materials, coupled with the adoption of smart building design & engineering could substantially reduce such CO2 emissions. At Godrej, we are committed to adopting sustainable development practices. All our building construction projects are designed using Green Building principles. Many of our buildings are certified as Platinum or Gold rated Green Buildings. Recently, our IT Park, 02 Godrej Business District (GBD) at Vikhroli, Mumbai was awarded a Platinum rating for Health & Well-being for the built environment by IGBC.
We are now also focusing on embodied carbon in construction materials – currently a blind spot for the industry. We are adopting the principle of ‘Recover, Recycle & Rebuild’ in the built environment. A manufacturing plant that recycles concrete debris has been set up by us in Mumbai to produce prefabricated concrete products such as concrete blocks, precast paver blocks, large concrete box culverts, ducts, and various other customized precast concrete products. We have already recycled over 25,000 metric tonnes of concrete debris by adopting Circular Economy principles. We believe that a sustainably developed built environment is essential for a better tomorrow.
