Latest news with #El-Battouty
Arab News
11-02-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Sustainable living should focus on comfort over beauty, says climate-focused architect
RIYADH: Architects need to shift their focus toward comfortable, climate-friendly designs rather than reaching for the stars with often unsustainable skyscrapers, said Sarah El-Battouty, founder of ECOnsult at a conference in Riyadh. According to El-Battouty, who is also a UN Climate Change High-Level Champions global ambassador, buildings are the most used product on Earth, so modern designs must reflect modern needs. 'Everything is moving forward — machines, products, food, communication — except buildings,' she said. ECOnsult, an Egypt-based architecture company specializing in green building and environmental strategy, developed the People's Brief, which examines the essential components people need in daily living. At the top of that list is comfort. 'We're no longer building things to impress. The future is to get the one target that is very difficult to achieve,' she said. 'I know it sounds simplistic, but it's really difficult to get people to sleep well, to feel firmer comfort when they're not too cold or too hot, to predict what is happening in the near future and accommodate the changes in seasonality, and fit all of that into an affordable, accessible, scalable, repeatable building.' The next step, she said, is integrating sustainable development goals into people's homes and using that foundation to design climate-resilient communities. Two years ago, ECOnsult introduced the Green Guidelines document, a set of standards for green architecture in rural, low-income communities. 'No one is sitting and figuring out how they're going to put these very advanced concepts and apply them to a completely different client… and whether these building technologies are actually scalable in rural communities.' El-Battouty emphasized the need for a direct connection between technology, forecasting, and accessible adaptation strategies, making them usable for everyone rather than a select few. Today, ECOnsult has developed the first World Green Building Council-certified small villages for green economies in Egypt. Five villages have been built so far, housing a total population of 500,000 in energy-, water-, and habitat-saving environments. By localizing goals and understanding the client, available technology at small scales has made a tremendous impact, El-Battouty said. ECOnsult has also built the first net-zero rural communities project in the Middle East and North Africa region: a mosque. Constructed from recycled brick and rammed earth and powered entirely by solar energy, the mosque's architecture supports 90 percent water recycling, material reduction, construction waste recycling, and the use of local materials. Governments worldwide are committing to net-zero pledges, such as Saudi Arabia's goal of achieving 50 percent renewable power by 2030 on its path to net-zero emissions by 2050. Developers in both the architectural and finance sectors are exploring green buildings and energy; however, 'why does it have to begin with the most expensive, large-scale?' El-Battouty asked. 'We are not there yet. We need to perfect this scale. 'Anyone who works in mitigation or quality assurance can understand that small is beautiful because you can test it,' she said. In most of ECOnsult's projects, they have achieved up to 10-degree cooling without mechanical assistance. With fresh air, adequate lighting control, stone, and strategic color usage, much can be accomplished affordably, El-Battouty noted. 'We need to use technologies that partner in informing us: today is a very hot day, your building is not doing well, I will adjust.' Some of the company's other projects include the Pavilion Café in Italy, a net-zero building constructed entirely from discarded refrigerator casings and waste food. Another project is a nursery/kindergarten in China, designed to combat outside air pollution by eliminating plastic casings, placing floor tiles on the ceiling, and ensuring an airtight structure. Royal Herbs Village is also the first carbon-neutral project in the Middle East and North Africa region. Located on a 4,200-sq.-meter plot in the Western Desert, where temperatures can reach up to 50 degrees Celsius, eight buildings have been constructed to accommodate 120 people in a complex that operates without energy-intensive air conditioning units. Other projects include a net-zero vocational school repurposed from an old structure using affordable local materials and a model for efficient tiny homes tailored to suit local climates. Rather than relying solely on advanced technology to solve the climate crisis, El-Battouty stressed that the real solution, with high market return and economic value, lies in catering to local communities. 'We're not innovators. Villages and people have been building for thousands of years, understanding exceptionally well what to do in the winter, what to do in drought. Otherwise, they wouldn't have survived. 'Our job is to integrate all of this so we don't come out on one end, isolated in a much smaller market, and then clap for ourselves that we have succeeded in changing the way we are building.' A small company with only 20 employees, ECOnsult has been working closely with the Saudi government, particularly in relation to UNCCD COP16, as well as with the Scottish government at the Glasgow climate conferences, to introduce climate-friendly and people-centric architecture into modern buildings and city plans.
Arab News
29-01-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Women's voices should be at forefront of policy, says UN climate champion
MANAMA: Women leaders from the MENA region are playing a transformative role in advancing climate action, a UN climate champion told Arab News. 'Women leaders in green tech and the green economy remain a minority, representing 30 percent of climate negotiations and less than 3 percent at the helm of tech companies,' said Sarah El-Battouty, global ambassador for the UNFCCC Climate Change High-Level Champions. El-Battouty spoke to Arab News on the sidelines of the Sustainability Forum Middle East in Manama, Bahrain, where she attended the evening event titled 'Women's Leadership in Climate and Sustainability — Amplifying the Voices of MENA's Changemakers.' The event, held in partnership with Bahrain's Supreme Council for Women and the Supreme Council for Environment, aims to showcase the contributions of female experts from across the MENA region. El-Battouty, who is also chairwoman of ECONSULT Sustainable Architecture, highlighted the importance of diverse leadership, inclusive policymaking and technology in addressing the climate crisis. 'The role of the UNFCCC Climate Change High-Level Champions is critical to the policymaking and way forward for climate action and dialogue between stakeholders,' she said. El-Battouty said that for many years, climate discussions were dominated by governments and financial institutions, leaving the private sector as mere implementers of policies. She shed light on the underrepresentation of women in the green economy and tech sectors and the need for their inclusion. 'Among them, women have been selected on merit to put forward the case of solutions led and created by women for women and broader communities from all over the world,' El-Battouty said. She said that while women played a transformative role in driving climate action, they faced significant economic and social barriers, particularly in access to climate financing. El-Battouty said that challenges for women-led green initiatives in the MENA region often stemmed from systemic barriers rather than purely socio-cultural norms. 'There are hidden root causes less prominent than social norms verified as key limitations,' she said. Women-led initiatives struggle to secured financial resources due to gender biases in financing systems, El-Battouty said. 'They are financed in smaller installments and often encouraged to have a male executive to unlock further financing.' She added that limited ownership of assets, such as land, restricted women from securing collateral for loans. 'Many women risk their savings or become indebted from the outset.' El-Battouty added that unequal access to STEM education reduced opportunities for women to lead in technical and environmental fields. 'Less than 19 percent of women enter STEM education,' she said. El-Battouty said that advancing inclusive policies addressing the social dimensions of climate change — such as gender equality, education and community resilience — was essential. 'These policies ensure that marginalized groups, including women and children, are part of the solution and recognize that as the most vulnerable to loss and damage and migration, women's voices should be at the forefront of holistic policy frameworks,' she said. El-Battouty called for accessible and affordable technology to empower women across all demographics. 'Women engage collaborative approaches, especially with other women, because they recognize them as stakeholders of climate actions, ensuring their livelihoods are sustained and information is learned, co-developed and passed on to generations,' she said. El-Battouty said that women were critical advocates for inclusive and sustainable practices in industries such as housing and construction, which were responsible for nearly 40 percent of global emissions according to the UN. 'It is women in the industry who have advocated for the inclusion of rural villages, low-income housing and indigenous communities to be included in climate-resilient intervention and green buildings,' El-Battouty said. Despite challenges, she celebrated the achievements of women leaders in advancing inclusivity and sustainability. 'Women in climate take big risks and face adverse resistance, however, their activism is seeing disruptive and positive steps to be inclusive and leave no one behind,' El-Battouty said.
