The Address Homes, a luxury real estate developer, says it wants the cooperation of relevant stakeholders in order to reduce carbon emissions in cities and the real estate sector.
The company explains that cooperation has become necessary given an increasingly challenging and volatile ecosystem where more than 60 percent of carbon emissions within cities typically come from buildings.
In a statement in Lagos at the weekend, it emphasised the urgent need for property firms to embrace a global shift towards the reduction of carbon emissions into the environment.
The company which is engaged in the acquisition, development and management of luxury and contemporary homes across Nigeria, made the call at the two-day Real Estate Unite Summit hosted by 3Invest Limited in Lagos recently.
‘’All hands must be on deck to ensure the preservation of the environment via sustainable practices in the real estate sector,’’ Segun Ogunbiyi, the company’s marketing manager/client sales executive, said on the side-line of the summit which had as theme, ‘Towards A Sustainable Culture.’
Ogunbiyi noted that there had been various calls across the real estate sector and beyond for individuals and business entities to prioritise clean and renewable sources of energy.
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“The world is trying to see how it can reduce the emission of carbon monoxide to secure nature. There’s a need for all real estate organisations to create a sustainable policy within their system that revolves around the workforce, work methodology, the design and the team,” he canvassed.
He said there were no quick fixes that would suddenly transform today’s energy-inefficient buildings into models of sustainable construction in the coming decades, adding that it would take time, investment and expertise to retrofit majority of buildings across urban areas.
Ogunbiyi reasoned that, given that more than 60 percent of carbon emissions within cities typically come from buildings, a concerted effort is needed sooner rather than later to address it.
“It’s why longer-term commitments for a net-zero future are now fuelling shorter-term pressures to start formulating action plans that will deliver steady progress,’’ he said.
According to him, one big step towards embracing greener energy sources would be to phase out the use of fossil-based power sources, a practice embraced by The Address Homes.
“When we talk about sustainability, there’s a green concept now. Projects have to be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified. For instance, if you do more generators, you reduce them in order to safeguard the atmosphere.
“When you put on a lot of generators, there is carbon emission. Technologically, it is advised that we should start the installation of solar systems, and electric systems in order to sustain the ecosystem,” he said.
Also speaking at the event, Ruth Obih, Convener, Real Estate Unite Summit, explained that the summit, which was in its 10th year, was created to fill the global gap noticed in the industry.
“When we started about 10 years ago, we did so because we felt there was a global gap that we needed to fill; we needed a global summit for the industry to dialogue, talk about issues, challenges in the industry and try to find solutions,” Obih revealed.
Obih noted; “Over the years, the annual summit has been able to address some critical issues in the real estate industry, however, what we’ve found out is that when we find an issue today and you think you have addressed it, tomorrow another issue comes up.
