Posted by Green infrastructure is rapidly making inroads in urban and housing planning at the national, regional, and municipal levels.
At a time when India has pledged to embark on its decarbonization journey in order to achieve targeted green goals, the need for sustainable infrastructure is critical for a better tomorrow.
Notifying the Green Hydrogen policy is a step in the direction to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and promote an alternate clean fuel economy. Green infrastructure implies the projects that are well planned, designed, constructed, operated, and decommissioned in a manner to ensure economic, social, and environmental (including climate resilience) sustainability over the entire life cycle of the project. It enables sound economic development, job creation, and consumption of renewable goods and services. It also enhances the quality of life for citizens, increases the utility of alternative green energy, and improves cost efficiency in the long run. Budget 2022 has become the first of its kind to make considerable space for green infrastructure as it has focussed on clean and sustainable urban development through three major sectors — transport, energy, and agriculture — in a bid to achieve carbon neutrality in the long haul. It has also announced several initiatives to galvanize climate-friendly actions like the allocation of renewable energy and energy storage technologies such as solar modules, energy transition, and issuing of green bonds among others.
Sustainable goals
Three key Budget announcements have specifically accorded high praise across the board — setting up a high-level committee of urban planners, economists, and institutions to recommend policies for urban planning and governance; plans to issue green bonds and referring to climate action as the ‘sunrise sector’. It clearly shows the government’s seriousness in achieving sustainable goals and enabling it to attract investors to fund environment friendly projects like those that reduce carbon intensity. These moves not only give a big boost to India’s commitment at COP26 of reaching net zero by 2070, but also achieving ambitious targets like 175 gigawatt of renewable energy capacity by this year.
Installing green infrastructure practices can add value to a project by resulting in more buildable lots and higher market prices, provided the need for stormwater ponds are eliminated.
The other things that limit opportunities for green infrastructure include: zoning density standards, storm sewer connection requirements, minimum parking and road widths. This will nudge developers to offer additional value proposition in the projects. Besides, many consumers are willing to shell out more for close proximity to attractive landscaping and contour green space.
Right action
However, if green infrastructure practices fails, it is often because they were not installed properly. Apart from the fact that construction procedures and sequencing for green infrastructure sites are different from conventional sites, many developers are unaware of the potential for cost savings with green infrastructure. Even those who are aware of the potential for cost savings may find it impossible to reconcile green infrastructure approaches with other codes and standards. Many of the strategies for overcoming these barriers require action by the corporations.
Local governments are in the best position to promote remote sustainable development. They can streamline building codes and ordinances, incentivize developers with exemptions, enable automation technology, incentivize electric charging, activate smart cities growth in association with private players, consolidate fragmented responsibilities for ease of doing business, revise resource utilization and management policies, penalise excessive carbon emission, replace pollutants with non-polluting green industries and focus on detailed research with soil and climatic conditions. They can also help regularise the cost of development and maintenance, effectively with long-term and cheap credit funding and tax rebates among other things.
Climate change is affecting us now more than ever and green infrastructure can help build up community resiliency today and into the future. This truly begins with conscious consumerism that propels urban liveability and adds to the communities’ well-being.
The author is Vice Chairman, NAREDCO, and former President, ASSOCHAM.
