Rapid urbanisation and population growth in Johannesburg has increased the demand for new buildings in the city. However, the growing construction industry contributes to large levels of greenhouse gas emissions, harming the environment and undermining the city’s already existing efforts to mitigate climate change. In fact, the city’s residential development is showed to be the biggest contributor to Johannesburg’s carbon emissions and to the annual increase in carbon emissions.

The Johannesburg City Council has adopted a policy to encourage the construction of environmentally friendly, low-energy buildings. The city's attempts to improve low to net-zero carbon efficiency for all new construction in Johannesburg by 2030, with a complete net-zero emissions compliance standard by 2050, are part of the Green Building program. The policy would guide the construction of sustainable, low-energy and resource efficient buildings in the city by setting high performance standards for construction companies.

Since the building sector has the largest potential for significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions compared to other major emitting sectors, this initiative has opened the door for lowering the carbon footprint in the city in future and creating a long lasting positive impact on the environment. Designing buildings to be more sustainable and resource efficient will not only contribute to lowering greenhouse gas emissions, but also to cost savings on energy and water and creating resilient buildings on the long run.

Photo by Clodagh Da Paixao on Unsplash