Promoting Sustainable Housing and Buildings for Climate Change Mitigation in Peru

Hello,

On February 16-17, 2012, I attended the Canada-Peru Workshop on Sustainable Housing/Buildings for Climate Change Mitigation, as part of my internship. This joint initiative between the Canadian and Peruvian Ministries of Environment brought together specialists from Canada, the United States, Mexico, Peru, Chile, and Germany. The first day of the conference consisted of a workshop for 60 participants in the building, governmental and financial sectors in Peru to discuss case studies in Canada and Mexico, technological advances in sustainable building technologies, and financing for such projects, among other things. Day 2 brought together a small nucleus of scientists and specialists to formulate the platform for the Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action Strategy (NAMA). As an intern at the Ministry of Environment, I led break-out groups in the afternoon on the first day, and participated in discussions on the second day.

Gaining information and insights from previous projects that have been implemented in various parts of the world was fascinating. For example, the Director of Innovation of the Minto Group, a Canadian company, presented the net zero carbon emissions house that Minto recently built, and explained how all of their constructions received a minimum of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold standard. Representatives of the NAMA, the Industrial Association of Mexico and the Association of Companies for Energy Savings and Buildings (AEAEE) from Mexico presented the implementation of their sustainable housing strategy, the social barriers that they had to overcome (for example, some people didn’t want huge shades covering their windows, so they had to install thicker, darker windows with a special coating to reduce light penetration and thus keep buildings cooler), and the financial credits that they established. Green building mortgages had to be created in order to finance the new construction projects.

By the end of the two days, everyone was tired, but satisfied – we had determined the mission and vision of the Peruvian NAMA, and identified five key sectors that would have to be evaluated, along with strengths and weaknesses of each area. The idea was to give Peruvian industry leaders and decision makers the tools to establish their own NAMA, specifically tailored to the country’s climatic, social, and economical needs, so that it can be implemented at a nation-wide level. Considering the fact that globally, the residential and commercial building sector represents approximately 30% of CO₂ emissions and 40% of primary energy use, reducing the impact of the building sector is technically achievable and represents a low-cost CO₂ mitigation solution.

On Friday, March 2^nd, El Peruano, a prominent Lima newspaper, announced that the Peruvian Green Building Council has created the Green Mortgage Program to promote the installation of eco-technologies in buildings in Peru and make them accessible to all socioeconomic classes. It appears to be a first step in the right direction, and I hope that the momentum will continue on this promising project. Canada’s Environment Canada will continue to facilitate the development of the Peruvian NAMA for the rest of 2012, and we’ll see where things go from there!

Sheila