Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi: Green Building Conference

Programme Director,
Hon. Dr. Kwaku Afriyie, Minister of Environment, Science, Technology & Innovation, Ghana
Hon. Dr. Kwamena Minta Nyarku, Policy and Regulatory Standards of Green building in Ghana
Prof. Elvis Asare-Bediako, Vice Chancellor University of Energy
Prof. Joseph Nnamdi Mojekwu, Chairman, ARCA Scientific Committee, Ghana
Prof. Sijekula Mbanga, Chair for Sustainable Human Settlements, Nelson Mandela University
Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Firstly, I would like to thank the organizers of this conference for the invitation to take part and engage in these very timely discussions. Gathered amongst you are knowledge seekers who are an important piece of the global developmental agenda puzzle. The pursuit of knowledge for its own sake has always been a very important pillar of modern civilization, however, what this conference has chosen to put in its agenda has practical implications for preservation of our species and civilization. Indeed, this is a matter that requires the best brains amongst us to unravel. Your conference is part of the global effort to help humanity to find efficient way to design, construct, and operate buildings that enhance the well-being of their occupants and support a healthy community and natural environment.

Climate change is the defining issue of our time and we have reached a pivotal moment in deciding our planet's future. Disasters linked to climate and weather extremes are becoming more frequent and intense as the world warms. Granting that no continent will be left untouched, Africa is on the frontline of climate change as it triggers mounting food insecurity, poverty, and displacement in our region - compounding the socio-economic and health crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Responding to these disasters that have increased in frequency and scale has become a very costly exercise. In the long run, this disaster response will become unaffordable, and it therefore means that the only logical thing to do is to adopt a preventative approach.

Climate change has multiple causal factors which include burning fossil fuels, cutting down forests and farming livestock. These activities cut across all the sectors of our society so that any preventative strategy must drill down to each sector and identify areas in which these causal activities can be reduced or eliminated completely where possible.

In this respect, the built environment is a huge contributor to carbon emissions. It is estimated that 40% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions come from buildings and, if left unchecked, they are set to double by 2050. Cement alone contributes around 8 to 10 percent of global Carbon Dioxide emissions. This means that without changing the way we build new structures and preserve and retrofit existing structures we will not achieve the crucial carbon dioxide goals. Building material and system innovations to reduce carbon and other embedded environmental impacts on the life cycle of building materials have also seen a huge leap over the past decade.

There are demonstrated efforts towards developing low-carbon concrete, bio-based alternatives, and green steel, as well as for mechanisms such as material reuse, urban mining, modularity in elements, design for disassembly, and more. There also are efforts to ensure that there is

• Broad use of renewable energy

• Innovative building design to enable use of solar and wind technology
• Smart design of green houses and buildings

We must all strive to ensure that these technological advancements are adopted and implemented. For an example, South Africa has considerable solar and wind resources as compared to other countries. We have therefore moved to ensure that we introduce a new policy that will ensure that with every subsidised house, we provide solar energy. We are also exploring ways of retrofitting technologies that can ensure our infrastructure is more resilient to floods, and other natural disasters.

When it comes to building material and alternative technologies, the change will be gradual because such a change has to be sensitive to the environment - both in terms of climate and culture. In South Africa, brick and mortar is a preferred technology and a change to other technologies will require public education. Our experience has shown that with increasing innovation, the prices of alternative technologies will fall rapidly and thus making them accessible to all market segments.

We should be mindful that to build sustainable communities by introducing circularity in the built environment will require us to pay attention to cost, public education, change of cultural attitudes and adaptability of these technologies to various context or environments. Your conference should help us to address these issues so that we can move faster in building sustainable human settlements.

To transition to green technologies and communities will require significant resources which are not readily available in developing economies. A scale up in development finance is needed to supplement scarce public resources and advance sustainable developments. This has become more urgent as countries continue to recover from the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the emerging global food crisis. Development finance can bridge the gap between investment needed immediately and the time horizon for attracting long-term investments and a fair return.

As the scale of climate finance increases, it is also important to ensure that the mechanisms available to allocate climate finance are effective, transparent, and not cumbersome for developing countries. Obstacles to access to climate finance by developing countries need to be assessed and addressed, and the approval processes of climate funds needs to be expedited. In this connection, multilateral organizations need to drive the mobilization of resources for the developing world.

We feel strongly that urban management and human settlement development should be considered a priority in recognition of the fact that all economic, social, cultural and ecological action takes place in a spatial context, in the place where people live, work, commute, recreate, learn, and call home. Providing access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrading slums by providing people with security of tenure, access to water, sanitation and energy should be our priority. This will create a multiplier effect on improving people’s health, safety and living environment. More importantly, it will create a multiplier effect for economic recovery and employment through housing and infrastructure construction.

The work to eliminate slums and informal settlements can only succeed through collaboration and cooperation amongst Member States. Hence, the global action plan framework is a critical element in dealing with slums and informal settlements. The intention of the Global Action Plan Framework is to consolidate and amplify efforts for accelerating the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda in the United Nations Decade of Action and to provide a joint vision of partnership and action. Underpinning the implementation of the Global Action Plan should be the transition to a low carbon-built environment.