The Earth’s climate has been drastically affected since 1800’s due to man-made activities like construction, transportation, fossil fuel consumption, etc. Climate change has become one of the major challenges faced by the world, that requires an immediate action to reduce its impact on human lives, health and environment. As an initiative against the climate change 196 countries have come together and agreed to a common goal of maintaining the global average temperature increase to preferably 1.5ºC through the Paris Agreement in COP21 with Nationally Determined Contributions. According to the UNEP Emissions Gap report, to reach the target of 1.5ºC, the world must reduce its carbon emission by 50% by 2030 and focus on achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. The global share of buildings and construction in the final energy and emissions in 2019 accounts to around 38% as per the GlobalABC report 2020.
In the recently conducted COP26, India has pledged to achieve the target of Net-Zero by 2070. For India to be on track for achieving Net- Zero by 2070 there is an urgent need to aggressively reduce energy demands in the built environment. The Centre for Climate Change has been established to carryout R & D on buildings in line with the COP26 goals set by India.
Vision:
To accelerate the transformation to Net-Zero emission buildings for mitigating impact of climate change.
Mission:
To develop and innovate sustainable building technologies to help in achieving India’s COP 26 set targets.
R & D Areas:
- Impact of Climate Change on Buildings and Construction
- Climatic Zoning for Building Energy Efficiency
- Climate Responsive Building Designs
- Carbon Neutral Buildings
- Super Insulation Materials
- Thermal Energy Storage
- Multifunctional Smart Windows
- Building Energy Managements and IoT
- Retrofitting of Buildings for Energy Efficiency
- Integration of Renewable Energy for Building Applications
- Innovative Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning Systems
- Disaster Resilience Shelters
- Life Cycle Assessment of Buildings
- Energy Efficient Design Guidelines and Certification
- Impact of Air Pollution on Built Environment