About New Buildings Programme
EThekwini Municipality is a steering Committee Member of the C40 Cities for Climate Leadership Group (C40), represented by Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda as the Vice Chairperson for Africa.
While there have been numerous agreements on the international platform, between national governments, the Paris Agreement is a breakthrough. Over 190 countries have agreed on the Paris Agreement which sets an ambitious limitation of global warming, to 1.5°C from pre-industrial levels, enhancing resilience and funding elements.
It was unclear for cities what actions would be required to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement. C40 commissioned Deadline 2020, a piece of research that primarily sought to identify key sectors within cities that offer high abatement potential. In addition, trajectories of greenhouse gas emissions up to 2050 for cities were developed. There were four trajectories and are a function of Gross Domestic Product per capita and greenhouse gas emissions per capita.
The latest research from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a stark warning. Current commitments and efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are not sufficient. This is meant to spur further ambition and action towards decreasing greenhouse gas emissions.
From a South African National government level, there are various pieces of legislation, regulations and plans that provide a supporting platform for the emergence of green buildings in eThekwini Municipality. These include: the National Development Plan (NDP), Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (SPLUMA) and mainly the National Building Regulations (NBRs). At a Municipal level, the Spatial Development Framework (SDF), Integrated Development Plan (IDP), Land use schemes and the Durban Climate Change Strategy (DCCS) lay the foundation for the C40 New Building Programme. In addition, the eThekwini Municipality annually updates the greenhouse gas emissions for local government emissions and for all other emissions that occur within the eThekwini Municipal Area, also known as community emissions.
As a result, C40 has developed a programme to assist four South African cities develop mechanisms that will result in all new buildings net-zero carbon buildings by 2030.
More information on the programme can be found here.
New Buildings Green Policy
This New Buildings: Green Policy (NBGP) is the first of its kind in South Africa specifically for net zero carbon buildings. This policy will create an ‘enabling framework’ to support implementation of the policy goals that would include regulatory elements, awareness, capacity development and net zero carbon design guidance manuals for the public. The eThekwini Municipality aims to ensure that this policy will be responsive to sector needs and contains a process for evaluation and review. As a result, the findings and learnings will be shared with other South African and international cities. Additionally, every effort will be made to improve the ease of doing business in the eThekwini Municipal Area and for purposes of this policy, this includes the development of building design tools that supports uniformity of application documentation and ease of compliance monitoring
Kindly email your comments to: Dr Magash Naidoo, Energy Office, Magash.Naidoo@durban.gov.za or Ms Nondumiso Mthembu, Energy Office, Nondumiso.Mthembu@durban.gov.za.
The Final Policy can be found here.
Kindly email your comments to: Dr Magash Naidoo, Energy Office, Magash.Naidoo@durban.gov.za or Ms Nondumiso Mthembu, Energy Office, Nondumiso.Mthembu@durban.gov.za.
Green Building Incentive Policy
It is the intention of the eThekwini Municipality to introduce a Green Building Incentive Policy. The policy is intended to catalyse the demand and uptake for green buildings within the eThekwini Municipal Area, while stimulating the green and circular economies.
Please see the draft eThekwini Green Building Incentive Policy here.
Net-Zero Building Guide
The eThekwini Municipal team, working on the New Buildings Programme, realised the need to create a set of broad technical guidelines for net-zero carbon buildings, specific to the City’s context that developers and other stakeholders can use as a reference when planning new developments. This led to the New Buildings Programme developing a relationship with the South African Chapter of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) to collaborate on the development of a guideline for net-zero carbon buildings.
The ASHRAE guide will serve as a support to developers by providing an overview of the concept of net-zero carbon buildings in South Africa, and aims to give guidance and references to approaching a net–zero carbon project. The focus is on new and existing commercial buildings, mainly offices, with some reference to the residential sector.
It has been produced as a collaboration between C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) South Africa Buildings Programme, ASHRAE South African Chapter, The Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA) and the eThekwini Municipality.
The guide to developing net zerocarbon buildings in South Africa gives a thorough overview on net zero carbon buildings in South Africa. It provides guidance to professional teams considering developing a net zero carbon building and shows those shaping the built environment in South Africa that it is possible.
The Guide can be found here.
