Kenya is seeking to cut high carbon emissions from buildings through the development of green standards targeting the construction sector.
According to Chief Architect in the State Department for Public Works David Waititu, this follows the operationalization of the National Building Code early this year requiring the country to develop Green Building Standard which set out sustainable parameters to be used in construction of sustainable buildings.
“When you are talking about green building, what parameters are you looking at so that even when you are saying we are building a green building and we are certifying a green building, we need to know what parameters we are talking about,” said Waititu.
Speaking during the Kenya Green Building Society (KGBS) Annual Conference and Green Expo 2025, Waititu said the standard which is currently under development through consultations with various stakeholders is expected to be operational within a year.
“The standard is very wide. It’s about materials, we are talking about wide scope even in terms of depth of buildings, in terms of accessibility, energy, machines and equipment,” he added.
Industry statistics indicate that buildings contribute the largest portion of carbon emissions accounting for 44.6pc, followed by transport sector at 34.3pc and industry 21.1pc.
“The CO2 emissions happen during production of construction chemicals. This is why we have to compensate that, this is why there are carbon credit. What we do is we offset CO2 by buying CO2 credits with countries to plant more trees,” said Hani Petro, General Manager at Mapei.
According to KGBS Chief Executive Officer Nasra Nanda, the conference targets to make Kenya a hub for green real estate, sustainable infrastructure, climate smart tourism, nature based solutions, preservation of cultural heritage and address industry gaps such as limited green financial products.
“We are bringing together public and private sector players to showcase local innovations, particularly those driven by counties, youth and women while fostering cross-sector collaboration through business-to-business engagement and investment matchmaking,” she stated.
The two day conference ends Friday.
