Maharashtra’s Nagpur city has joined the ‘Zero Carbon Buildings Accelerator’ (ZCBA) programme to advance its goals and actions on decarbonisation of buildings. This follows the successful implementation of the Building Efficiency Accelerator (BEA) project in the city, which resulted in energy-efficient improvements in the design of its upcoming affordable housing buildings, energy benchmarking and audits of different building typologies to identify potential energy savings, and the preparation of guidelines to promote the adoption of climate-responsive homes.

The ZCBA programme is being funded by the Global Environment Facility and is supported by the United Nations Environment Programme. ICLEI South Asia is a regional partner and the programme will be implemented by the Nagpur Smart & Sustainable City Development Corporation Limited and Nagpur Municipal Corporation.

Building upon the outcomes of the BEA project, the ZCBA programme was launched by the World Resources Institute (WRI) in 2021 to develop an action plan for building decarbonisation. It comprises transformative actions and strategies suitable to the local context, aligned with the existing policies and standards of the state and the national government, such as the Energy Conservation Building Code and ECO-Niwas Samhita (the energy conservation building code for residential buildings), as well as the local guidelines for energy-efficient and climate-responsive homes developed through the BEA project. Nagpur’s Action Plan will support the ZCBA programme’s goal of decarbonising the world’s buildings by 2050, which will also help reduce emissions, generate green jobs, and improve quality of life.

Local stakeholders, including city officials and planners, real estate developers, material suppliers and manufacturers, architects, and civil engineers, as well as researchers, academicians and civil society representatives will be consulted extensively to gather insights on current trends, research, barriers and best practices pertaining to low-carbon buildings.

The baseline and trends for Nagpur’s building stock and lifecycle, including construction and demolition waste management practices, will be reviewed. The existing material supply chain and its capacity and readiness to supply green and low-carbon materials, building approval and monitoring mechanisms, and their adaptability to incorporate zero-carbon building guidelines will be studied to develop relevant strategies and policy-level interventions to accelerate decarbonisation of buildings. Priority actions to kick-start the transition and initiate pilot projects will also be identified as part of the action plan.
It is estimated that India will need 50% additional infrastructure, including buildings, to meet the requirements of its projected population in 2030, as compared to 2014, as mentioned in India’s Nationally Determined Contributions report.

Indian cities have to promote deployment of efficient and low-carbon built infrastructure that avoids carbon lock-in in their urban growth. Initiatives like ZCBA will play a key role in meeting India’s commitment to be carbon neutral by 2070.