ISLAMABAD - Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam on Thursday said that efforts had been made to introduce green building structures in the country which would be highly energy-efficient, climate-resilient and help reduce or eliminate negative impacts on climate and natural environment.

“The Ministry of Climate Change is presently working with various relevant stakeholders on the development of the green building code for promoting concept of the green building construction activities, so as to reduce carbon footprints and contribution of environmental degradation of new construction activities at all levels,” he said while addressing the participants of the ‘Workshop on Implementation Opportunities and Gaps for the Development of Green Building Code for Pakistan’. The workshop was organised by the Climate Change Ministry in collaboration of EU SwitchAsia SCP Programme, UN Environment Programme and UN-Habitat. 

Malik Amin Aslam called upon the workshop participants to deliberate at length on the roadmap for implementation opportunities and gaps for the development of green building code for Pakistan. The participants included professionals and key stakeholders from academia, national regulatory bodies of engineering, architecture and town planning, builders and developers and civil society organisations.

The SAPM said, “I am looking forward that experts will review the work done so far and will draw up the roadmap for the development of a Green Building Code for Pakistan which takes into consideration our ecological diversity, extreme weather events and is resilient to climate change impacts triggered by increasing frequency and intensity of temperature and rainfall.”

He hoped that adoption of green building practices in Pakistan at all type of construction activities would make building structures and processes environmentally-responsible and resources-efficient throughout the building’s life cycle. “As a result, substantial savings could be made through integrated planning and adopting environment-friendly designs by involving the architects, engineers, city planners, contractors and clients to develop an optimal design in terms of technology, materials and energy savings,” he said.

Moreover, he said, construction of green buildings would also support in achieving certain benefits, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.