Indian Green Building Council, established by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in 2001 to actively promote the Green Building concept in India, has introduced new green rating tools as part of its Net Zero mission to accelerate the uptake of green building projects in the country.

The new green rating tools of IGBC were launched at the Indian Green Building Congress, held in Chennai between November 23-25, 2003. They include Net Zero Carbon Rating and upgraded rating systems - Green Existing Building Rating Version 1.0, Green Factory Rating Version 2.0, and Green Campus Rating Version 1.0.

The building and construction sector in India accounted for nearly one-third of the total GHG emissions inventory covering both operational and embodied emissions in 2021.

IGBC launched the mission of ‘Net Zero’ with the vision of facilitating India to become one of the foremost countries in transforming to Net Zero by 2050. As part of this mission to facilitate buildings and the built environment to adopt Net Zero concepts, IGBC has introduced specific rating systems such as Net Zero Energy, Net Zero Water, and Net Zero Waste to Landfill.

“So far, more than 350 organisations from the Indian building sector have committed to achieving the Net Zero status for their new and existing buildings. Also, about 90 projects are adopting Net Zero Energy, Water, Waste to Landfill and Carbon concepts across the country, said Gurmit Singh Arora, National Chairman, IGBC.

Key step

The new rating tool IGBC Net Zero Carbon (pilot Version) rating system is described as another key step to reduce operational and embodied emissions. The rating system has been developed based on the consensus and support of all the relevant stakeholders.

The Net Zero Carbon rating system is a voluntary and consensus-based programme for both new and existing buildings and campuses. 

The rating tool has been designed to encourage the use of low-embodied carbon materials, optimise the buildings’ performance using passive features and technologies, and use on-site and off-site renewable energy systems and carbon sequestration measures to reduce or offset the carbon emissions associated with the buildings and its concerned environment.

Green footprint

Green Existing Building Rating Version 1.0 is an improved version of the pilot system after taking feedback from all stakeholders, while Green Campus Rating Version 1.0 seeks to rate not just the building alone, but also the building environment. More than 100 campuses are reported to implementing measures to be rated under this system.

IGBC has facilitated more than 11,500 projects across the country with a green footprint of over 10.42 billion sq ft. This has made India a global leader in the sustainable built environment with the second largest green building footprint in the world.

“We stand number 2 in the world, whereas, in the case of net zero buildings, we have a great opportunity to take a leadership position and make India the number 1 country in the world,” said Jamshyd Godrej, Chairman, CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre.

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