The consequences of our past actions have now started to creep into the present with increased disruption. Floods, the like of which have not been seen in a thousand years, recently hit parts of Europe and China, while Greece, Turkey and Algeria (to name just a few countries) are on fire. Yet still not everyone is ready to accept the full reality of climate change that sits behind these changes.

There are so many challenges that are being experienced by cities today, and people are at the receiving end. Whether that is a lack or loss of jobs, food and water insecurity, inadequate or no service delivery, or infrastructure that is ill-equipped to deal with extreme weather events or increasing temperatures. People need cities to be the places that protect them, that feed them and that provide them with hope.

At Solid Green, we continue to work with the City of Johannesburg and others around the EcoDistricts Protocol, which places Equity, Resilience and Climate Protection at the heart of how neighbourhoods or ‘EcoDistricts’ respond to the challenges they face. The protocol addresses these challenges through a system of collective impact which requires stakeholders to collaboratively define a restorative pathway toward carbon neutrality at a future date.

We need to ensure that those most vulnerable within our communities are provided with the opportunities to meaningfully participate in identifying challenges and opportunities, lead the charge in finding solutions and advocating for change, and thrive through personal and professional growth and prosperity, in order to actively contribute towards cities that will experience stronger and longer-lasting growth. Only when all people can understand, anticipate, and withstand social, economic and environmental shocks and stresses will our cities be prepared for the future that lies ahead.

And only when we focus on moving toward carbon neutrality, being mindful of living within the means of the earth today and perhaps saving a little for the rainy day of tomorrow, will we be acting as the custodians of the planet – as we should be.

If you would like to find out more about the EcoDistrict protocol and how we can use this methodology to set your development or precinct on a pathway to carbon neutrality, please contact us.

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• Produce plans that show how to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, individually and working with others.
• Start translating the plans into action within the organisation, or by collaborating with others on mutually beneficial climate actions.
• Use their influence to champion an economy-wide transition to #ZeroCarbon2050 with national government.

Climate change causes increased health risks, as it affects everything from air quality to water and food security. As climate change accelerates, South African businesses and cities need to take action to build resilience in the face of the direct impacts on human health, water supply, human settlements, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, tourism, and the insurance sector – and the knock-on impacts on other sectors.

All stakeholders need to act decisively to reduce the emissions that cause climate change. This involves redefining our energy systems away from fossil fuels of oil, coal and gas to renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and waves; plus reducing emissions in every sector such as transport, industry, construction, agriculture, and land use.

We are looking forward to this journey with ACA, as we work collectively towards the triple bottom line of Environment, Society and Economy – where the economy is the means to an end, and the end is environmental and social sustainability.

To find out more, visit http://www.alliancesforclimateaction.co.za/

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In planning for a post-COVID-19 building strategy, health-related risks, and specifically the management of threats in densely built-up areas, will join the Resilience conversation – requiring new design and construction methodologies to align with the inevitable changes to regulations that we will see in future.

I believe this is a challenge to the built environment community to take a leading role in effecting meaningful change. This would fundamentally include working with the public sector in proactively defining policies that address all aspects of occupant health and wellbeing. Not only for individual buildings but, essentially, for rapidly-growing cities in terms of spatial equity, movement (of both people and goods), and the provision of clean air and clean water – among many other factors.

Photo credit Boogertman + Partners

Climate Change & Human Health

Reinink says that the link between climate change and human health has been proven beyond any doubt.

Recent research shows that those who are most vulnerable to health hazards, namely those living in under-served communities, are also those who are most at risk from climate change. This includes the health risk posed by air pollution, which is linked to higher rates of death in people with Covid-19.

For years, it has been widely acknowledged that the design and management of buildings and public spaces are critical to enhancing users’ health and wellbeing – both in terms of productivity, and mitigating disease and absenteeism. “In commercial building typologies, salaries are the biggest cost to companies, so an improvement in staff health and productivity will bring a direct return,” Reinink emphasises. “And, in times of almost unprecedented economic uncertainty, this is an area that should receive increased attention from business decision makers.”

Moving forward, two criteria that will need immediate attention in commercial and public buildings (healthcare and education) are Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) and the specification of suitable materials. IEQ covers natural ventilation and daylighting, good airflow and air filtration; while appropriate material choices include materials with low VOC content, materials that are easily cleanable, and materials that can be easily replaced as needed.

Photo by Nic Lehoux for the Bullitt Center

Social Distancing & Remote Working

Reinink also believes that the current shift in global paradigms will significantly affect how work and schooling are carried out, particularly for organisations and institutions that have not yet fully embraced the concept of remote working and flexible hours. In a hybrid physical/digital world, organisations will need to be extremely agile and spaces will have to accommodate hyper-flexible user behaviour, vast improvements to user health and safety, as well as the flow of resources and people as part of disaster risk management strategies.

This more dynamic way of operating has been part of Solid Green’s way of working since the renovation of its Rosebank office, which was awarded a LEED Platinum certification for commercial interiors and South Africa’s first 6-Star Green Star SA Interiors v1 certification in 2016. The company’s decision to move to its own premises in Parkhurst in 2020 presented a further opportunity to integrate key Health & Wellbeing requirements to enhance people’s physical and mental health and fitness. These include:

• Air quality, which is being addressed through openable windows, natural ventilation, and sensors for air quality control (CO, CO2 and VOC).
• Drinking water promotion and filtration.
• Nourishment, through the availability of fruits and vegetables, food production in the garden, and mindful eating.
• Light quality, with sufficient daylight, views to nature and glare control.
• Movement, with the inclusion of ergonomic workstations, a good Walk Score for the area, and a multi-use space where yoga can be practiced.
• Thermal comfort and control, with comfort monitoring.
• Sound mapping and good acoustics, which requires an acoustic plan that identifies and addresses internal and external noise sources.
• Mind, through access to nature; spaces exclusively for contemplation, relaxation and restoration; and sleep support.

Designing an interior environment to accommodate flex-working was high on the agenda from project inception. Several different work settings have been included: 8 (unallocated) work stations that will be occupied on a first come, first served basis; a standing/high chair seating area for 4 people; one large table for 4 people, and a relaxed seating area with 2 seats.

The project, currently under construction, will pursue a CORE Green Building Certification through the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) and a Net Zero Carbon certification through the Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA).

Boogertman + Partners’ head office, Johannesburg. Photo credit Boogertman + Partners

Public Private Collaboration

In the article ‘Climate, COVID-19 and the economics of decarbonizing buildings’, authors Casey Talon and Carsten Petersdorff state:

A collective effort is required to redefine specifications at the design and build stage of projects… we have an unprecedented opportunity to rethink the entire approach to designing, constructing and managing commercial buildings. If the collective of government, business, real estate and shareholders can agree on the importance and benefits of decarbonization priorities, the COVID-19 recovery era can be positive for climate change.

Reinink agrees and adds that, as the links between urbanisation, climate change and public health become more apparent, current building practices will fall under scrutiny – and stakeholders will need to work together in navigating the way forward.

The property sector is already taking a proactive stance on motivating for the sector to be deemed an essential service. We, as sustainability specialists, have been working to promote more responsible building practices for years. It is now up to us to advocate for the role of the built environment in recovering from this pandemic and preparing for future disasters – by being actively involved in decision- and policy-making.

Oxford Parks courtesy of Intaprop

In Conclusion: Building to enable Health

“It’s not a discussion about sustainability versus health. We must work together towards creating sustainable buildings that are enablers of health,” Reinink emphasises.

Human health, our actions and the natural environment are completely interdependent. Now, more than ever, we must prioritise the responsible use of the Earth’s natural resources and drastically reduce carbon emissions – both in the built environment professions and in our daily lives. The quality of our future depends on how we respond to the challenges with which we are now faced.

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The ‘24 Hours of Reality: Truth in Action’ events were held at Boogertman + Partners head office in Bryanston, and Aurecon Centre in Lynnwood, and one tree was planted for every person who attended thanks to our friends at One Tree Planted. Guest speakers were Adrie Fourie on ‘Setting the Scene – Climate Reality’, Marloes Reinink on ‘Living Buildings for a Living Future’ and Denise Mall on ‘Taking Action – from Sustainable to Regenerative’.

“Both events were very well-attended,” says Marloes. “62 people participated in the Johannesburg event; with 82 attending the Pretoria event.”

Setting the Scene – Climate Reality

Adrie contextualised the current climate crisis by pointing out that the largest source of global warming is still the burning of Fossil Fuels, which supplies 80 percent of all the energy the world economy needs. The world’s oceans absorb the vast majority of the extra accumulated heat energy resulting from higher greenhouse gas levels – resulting in sea level rise, changes in salinity and ecosystems, changes to ocean current, and natural hazards and extreme weather events like typhoons, cyclones and hurricanes that result in flooding. And, as the climate changes, precipitation patterns also change, leaving some places with less rainfall than before resulting in droughts and wildfires.

Climate change also causes increased health risks, as it affects everything from air quality to water and food security. Risks include malnutrition, the spread of malaria and other mosquito-borne viruses, heat exhaustion, and waterborne diseases such as cholera. The indirect cost of these factors includes political instability, famine and climate refugees.

The good news is the significant growth in recent years of the renewables sector including wind energy, which has the potential to supply 40 times more electricity than the entire world currently uses; and solar energy, enough of which reaches Earth every hour to fill all the world’s energy needs for a full year. These industries are now also opening up new opportunities like pay-as-you-go solar, and the emerging Global Cumulative Storage sector.

Living Buildings for a Living Future

Marloes introduced the work of the Collaborative by explaining that the mission of ILFI (International Living Future Institute) is to catalyse the transformation toward communities that are socially just, culturally rich, and ecologically restorative. Launched about 10 years ago, their first programme was the Living Building Challenge, followed by the Living Community Challenge and Living Product Challenge. Other ILFI initiatives now include the Zero Carbon Certification, Zero Energy Certification, and Core Green Building Certification; together with the Declare, Just, and Reveal transparency reporting tools for building product ingredient disclosure, organisational social justice and equity initiatives, and building energy use disclosure.

As of June 2019, there were over 113 certified LBC and Zero Energy projects around the world, and almost 600 projects were registered to pursue certification under LBC and ZE. The ILFI has an Ambassador Network that spans the globe, on every continent and in every time zone – with 709 Ambassadors in 43 countries, and 89 Collaboratives in 41 countries.

Taking Action – from Sustainable to Regenerative

Denise then spoke about biomimicry and how nature and business should support each other towards the triple bottom line of Environment, Society and Economy – where the economy is the means to an end, the end being environmental and social sustainability.

She observed that the most powerful designs incorporate the 3 basic levels of innovation that we can learn from nature – imitating nature’s form, learning her recipes, and mimicking her systems. This is because nature has the ability to create the illusion of infinity with finite resources by effectively upcycling and recycling. We therefore need to start treating our resources as finite elements; and focus on valuing them and creating a regenerative world.

Denise concluded with a well-known quote from Buckminster Fuller on changing a system that no longer works:

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.

For more information on how to become involved with the Living Future Collaborative South Africa, reach out to us here.

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The social cost of carbon measures the global damage of carbon emissions in the atmosphere to determine the scale of negative externalities that policy and investment need to address in order to preserve future generational growth. As social cost benefits are difficult to quantify in monetary terms, the shadow price of carbon can be described as the estimated marginal abatement cost of reducing emissions required to achieve the social cost reduction goals.

In early 2019, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) set a market value to carbon emissions to reflect how much they cost society. According to the article ‘What is shadow carbon pricing?’ (Vanora Bennett, 23 January 2019):

In setting the ‘shadow price’, the EBRD follows recommendations by the High-Level Commission on Carbon Prices, which… recommends that carbon should be priced at US$ 40-80 in 2020, rising over time and reaching US$ 50-100 by 2030.

Figure 1: Global CO2 Emissions by Sector (Architect 2030, 2019)

Building design, construction and operations have large impacts on global carbon emissions (CO2). The United Nations (UN) Environment Global Status Report 2017 (Abergel, Dean and Dulac, 2017) identifies the building sector as contributing 39% energy related greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) of which operational energy accounts for 28%, and new construction embodied energy for 11% (11 GtCO2). This suggests that there is a blind spot in the construction sector with regards to shadow cost abatement which needs to be addressed.

Countries have started to implement building sector policy instruments demanding change from government, industry and the public to ensure that GHGs are phased out by 2050, thus safeguarding global temperatures below the critical 2°C (Pachauri, et al., 2014). Factors such as willingness to pay for carbon emissions reduction and political will are critical as countries pull together to meet the Paris Agreement of 2015. To date, country leaders in renewable energy transitions include the Nordic countries, various European countries and the UK.

Procurement can be used as a strategic instrument critical to ensure lower GHGs during construction. Traditional building material procurement relies on single contract proven technologies in a principled project execution; whereas strategic building material procurement shifts the focus to an innovative and integrated approach where all team members work together to achieve functional performance-based goals.

In this way, the stick becomes the policy that drives sustainable procurement and the carrot becomes the economic incentives and taxation reductions that push construction teams towards circularity adherence using secondary building materials for reduced shadow costs (Rijkswaterstraat Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, 2019).

Figure 2: Building sector energy-carbon intensities by country 2015 (Abergel, Dean and Dulac, 2017, p.17)

Coal-hungry South Africa (SA) introduced a carbon tax on 1 June 2019 to be levied on GHG emitting fuel sources. “President Cyril Ramaphosa has communicated the urgent need for action around the climate crisis,” (WWF, 27 May 2019).  A lowered tax rate of R46 per ton of carbon dioxide is set to take effect for the first 3 (three) years; and will rise to R120 per ton of carbon dioxide by 2022 (AFP, 27 May 2019). The SA market requires eco-innovation support to ensure that locally produced, lower GHG materials are manufactured and used on site, with minimal reliance on finished imported products. This carbon tax is the first step in the right direction, which should ideally be followed by shadow cost reduction relief to construction teams that procure strategic building materials with lower GHG impacts.

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However, the shortage of potable water has been looming for some time in our country and across many parts of the globe. Many countries have been feeling the effects of water shortages for years, and this has caused social upheaval and conflict in the Middle East and northern African states.

Theewaterskloof Dam (Credit: Gavin Westbrook)

A Planetary Overview

71% of the Earth’s surface is water, which makes up about 0.02% of the planet’s mass. Freshwater makes up 2.5% of this total, and just 1.2% of that is surface water. 20% of all the Earth’s unfrozen freshwater exists in just one lake, Lake Baikal in Russia. Most of the other water is salt water or locked up underground or in ice-sheets.

The principle causes of water shortages are climate change, poor water management and pollution. We have experienced the 10 hottest years for global climate on record in the period since 1998. 2016 was the warmest year on record at +1.1 ℃ above the pre-industrial average temperature, and was the first year that CO₂ concentrations in the atmosphere remained above 400 ppm for the whole year. The oceans are also heating up, which gives more energy to tropical storms and helps to melt sea-ice faster.

2017 is set to beat all previous records. This increase in average temperature is upsetting the balance of the climate and has changed the water cycle. Many areas now experience longer and more intense droughts and, when the rains do arrive, they are in the form of massive downpours that cause flooding and damage. We now have the dichotomy of increased drought and increased flooding, which places great stress on our infrastructure – which is designed for a more consistent but gentler rainfall. It therefore stands to reason that we need to minimise the impact we have on the climate, and prepare more resilient infrastructure.

Combined road-rail bridge over the Gariep Dame (Credit: Gavin Westbrook)

South Africa under Scrutiny

South Africa in one of the very few countries in the world that enshrines the right to water in the Constitution. Ninety-one percent of the population in South Africa has access to improved freshwater and proper sanitation, according to the latest census – and studies suggest that we use 186L/capita/day. This average is biased by the easy access to water in urban areas and the fact that rural women spend nearly a third of their day collecting water. And, while South Africa boasts one of the cleanest water systems in the world, due to the lack of sanitation and access to fresh water in the country’s rural communities, the threat of water-borne disease is steadily increasing.

Most of South Africa’s fresh water comes from rivers and dams, but this water supply is increasingly under pressure from pollution. Eutrophication is a growing concern, with about one-third of the total volume of water held in strategic storage approaching the point where it is no longer fit for purpose without significant and costly intervention. Return flows, out of mining and agricultural areas, particularly from gold-mining activities, are rapidly deteriorating, with highly acidic water starting to decant from abandoned and derelict mines. In addition, the runoff of pesticides and fertilisers from agricultural areas are damaging river and dam ecosystems.

Farm Dam in Northern Cape (Credit: Gavin Westbrook)

In addition to risk of pollution from agriculture and waste from urban areas, these supplies also cannot cope with the cloud-burst type storms that have become common – so a lot of the rainwater is lost as flood spillage.

Also, water and infrastructure are not always in the same place. For example, Gauteng, the most densely populated province, has very little freshwater and must import what it needs from the Vaal Dam and the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. Adding to this difficulty is the fact that infrastructure has not been maintained; and up to 37% of all improved freshwater is lost in pipe leaks or is stolen.

South Africa introduced two rating systems to monitor the quality of our water and report any deficiencies in the treatment of water and sewage. These include not only compliance with water quality standards, but also the existence of a water safety plan, process controlling and the credibility of sample results, among others:

• The Blue Dot certification rates the performance of water treatment and supply plants. Less than 5% of the 787 facilities assessed achieved certification in 2010.
• The Green Dot certification assesses wastewater treatment plants. More than 60% of facilities failed to achieve certification.

Finally, South Africa is one of the worst affected countries in the world when it comes to invasion by alien plant species with many (e.g. black wattle, Port Jackson willow, Hakea, Lantana and Jacaranda) posing a significant threat to native biodiversity and already scarce water resources.

Graaf-Reinet Dam (Credit: Gavin Westbrook)

What can we do to change the situation?

We need a change of perception when it comes to water, and need to recognise that it is a very valuable, finite resource that all life requires to survive. Positive actions include educating ourselves as to where our water comes from, and practicing smart water use by:

• using less water in general by installing efficient taps, showers, toilets, and appliances;
• planting indigenous vegetation that does not require large amounts of water;
• fixing any leaks in the system to prevent wasting what water we have;
• collecting rainwater that can be used for irrigation, flushing toilets or other mechanical services;
• collecting greywater that can also be used for irrigation, flushing toilets or other mechanical services; and
• collecting blackwater and treating it to acceptable standards to be used in irrigation.

We anticipate that ‘capture, filter and reuse’ will be the new maxim for water usage!

Theewaterskloof Dam (Credit: Gavin Westbrook)

Resources for this article:

• The Journey of Water
• The Water Project
• Water supply and sanitation in South Africa (Wikipedia)

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