United Nations Environment Programme Resource efficiency

and Sustainable Social Housing Initiative

Soraya Smaoun Acting Head, Built Environment Unit

Workshop “The future of social housing:

environmental and social challenges and the way forward” 5 February 2014

Geneva, Switzerland

1. Resource Efficiency and Cities - The global environmental challenges - Why focus on cities? - UNEP Built Environment Activities - Cities and Buildings – Key initiatives and programmes 2. The Sustainable Social Housing Initiative (SUSHI) - Rationale - Goals - Approach - Solutions’ Identification - Cost Benefit Assessment - SUSHI Guidelines - SUSHI in Bangladesh and India - Challenges & Lessons Learned

Structure

The Global Environmental Challenges

•Population growth of the 20th century closely coupled to substantial increases in the extraction and consumption of natural resources.

•By 2050, 140 billion tons of minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass consumed per year, three times the current consumption.

•Scarcity of cheap and high quality sources of materials such as oil, copper and gold, and rising volumes of fossil fuels and freshwater to produce their supplies.

Why focus on cities?

The cities of the 21st century are the largest sites of human settlement today and are increasingly acting as critical nexus points of social, economic, ecological and technological change.

Cities, from a PROBLEM APPROACH…

In 2050, cities are expected to account for : o ¾ Population o ¾ Resource use o ¾ CO2 emissions o ¾ Solid waste

…To DRIVERS of CHANGE

• Economies of Scale • Hubs of knowledge, innovation,

investments and partnerships • Strategic importance of cities as

part of the broader ecosystem • Social and economic dominance:

50% of global population and 80% of the global GDP

• Great potential for efficiency • Planning opportunities

Why focus on cities?

They aim at: • Integrating the urban dimension in key global environment issues • Promoting the link between local and global agendas and action • Promoting resource efficient and sustainable cities • Making the case of integrating environment in strategic planning

at city level and to provide technical assistance to cities • Particularly looking at the building sector as a major sector to

achieve resource efficiency

These goals are achieved through: 1) Strategic partnerships and Initiatives 2) Knowledge Management 3) Operationalisation through Development of tools &

Demonstration projects

UNEP Built Environment Activities

• Promotes international cooperation on sustainable buildings.

• Develops tools, and data to identify barriers and enable the adoption sustainable buildings approaches.

• Supports policy makers to recognize and realize the sustainability role of buildings

• Provides a platform for consultation and for sharing best practices among city managers.

• Develops common metrics for sustainable cities.

• Promotes a holistic approach to resource use and consumption in cities.

• Supports local and national authorities in the selection and implementation of sustainable building policy packages.

SPoD

Cities and Buildings – Key Initiatives

• Supports the integration of sustainable solutions in social housing units in developing countries

Urbanisation Population growth Housing shortage

Government response: social housing programmes

Constraints of budget and time

Little consideration of quality/sustainability

Sub-standard buildings: Low sustainability & high life-

cycle costs

•Urban housing shortage in India estimated at 18.78 million households.

•35 million housing units needed from 2008 to 2023 to close the housing gap in Brazil.

•210,000 housing units per year needed in Kenya to keep up with demand in urban areas.

The Sustainable Social Housing Initiative

Main preconceptions

1. Social housing units have a low

environmental impact

2. Sustainable solutions are too

expensive and not worth including in

social housing

Opportunities for sustainability

1. Reduce energy and resource

consumption, and deliver social, health,

and economic benefits

2. Solutions and practices exist to

deliver sustainability improvements at low

cost

Aim: Promote sustainability in social housing projects, ensuring that social housing programmes include design criteria and construction practices that support sustainable building principles.

SUSHI

SUSHI Goals

Assessment of context: Climate, Cultural habits, Needs of stakeholders, Availability of market

solutions, Policies/ Incentives, Technical capacity, Awareness of benefits.

Development of targeted actions: Consultation Workshop, Training programmes, Database of technologies, Analysis of lessons learned

from previous initiatives; Site-specific guidelines; Educational video.

Policy makers

Housing developers Architects

Inhabitants Financial institutions

Academia

Designers

Construction Companies

Stakeholders

SUSHI Approach

Action: In Brazil the SUSHI team identified specific green solutions which could be integrated into social housing projects based on criteria including market availability, life cycle savings and user needs. Results: Selection of locally available green solutions including: • Solar water heating • Water and energy efficient appliances • Bioclimatic design • Individual water metering

Identification of solutions

Action: In Thailand, the SUSHI team selected two National Housing Authority project sites in Bangkok and modelled the performance of selected efficient solutions over thirty years, estimating the costs and savings which could be achieved at project level, corporate level, and national level. Results: •Additional investments in sustainable solutions are offset in less than three years through reduced operation costs and utility bills. •Internal rate of return is positive, and increases if the solutions are adopted at a broader scale

Cost-Benefit Assessment

A step-by step approach for inclusion of sustainable solutions in social housing projects

Audience: Public and

private project developers

Step 1 • Mapping & Assessment

Step 2 • Establishing the Project Agenda and Scope

Step 3 • Raising Awareness and Building Capacity

Step 4 • Monitoring and Evaluation

Projects: New housing projects and retrofit

projects

SUSHI Guidelines

SUSHI in Bangladesh and India

Ongoing activities 1. Study of policy and financing mechanisms

2. Stakeholders mapping and assessment

3. Creation of database of solutions

4. Inclusion of sustainable solution in pilot project in India

5. Promotion of sustainable solutions performance monitoring

6. Training and awareness raising

Lessons Learned

1. Lack of awareness of decision makers and misconceptions on costs and benefits of sustainable solutions.

2. Wide variety of stakeholders needs and interests. 3. Deeply rooted socio cultural aspects shape stakeholders’

perception and actions. 4. Scarcity of skills and capacities along the social housing supply

chain. 5. Limited institutional entry points for effective holistic actions. 6. Complexity of housing sustainability issues in the wider urban

context 7. Slow rate of adoption of innovative solutions.

Challenges

Thank you for your attention!

Division of Technology, Industry and Economics Built Environment Unit

15, rue de Milan, 75441 Paris Cedex 09, France Tel : +33 (0) 1 4437 1429

Email : built.environment@unep.org Web: www.unep.org

For more information on SUSHI visit: www.unep.org/sustainablesocialhousing