12-07-2025
- Business
- New Indian Express
Thiruvananthapuram city corporation to introduce NZCRB action plan to tackle climate change, pollution
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a major move to tackle climate change, the city corporation has unveiled a first-of-its-kind blueprint — Net Zero Carbon and Resilient Buildings (NZCRB) — to make the city's environment energy-efficient, climate-resilient and with a low-carbon footprint.
The action plan, the officials say, is designed to drastically reduce carbon emissions across a building's lifecycle, right from design and construction to its demolition, all the while helping it withstand the impacts of extreme weather.
The action plan also recommends establishing an NZCRB Cell within the corporation to coordinate activities and ensure its long-term integration. The document has been drawn up by the civic body in collaboration with sustainable experts and research organisations, including WRI India, the Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ISHRAE), and the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC).
As part of it, the civic body will introduce innovative climate-responsive materials and technologies for construction, including heat pumps, high-performance glass and walling systems with low thermal resistance, to promote sustainable construction.
'Our city is expanding rapidly. Subsequently, the number of building construction approval requests in all 23 local bodies have also gone up. To address this rising energy demand, the corporation has made public buildings solar efficient, with a cumulative installed capacity of 17MW. This was done under the solar cities programme,'' explains corporation secretary Jahangir S.
'We are committed to moving towards net-zero carbon emissions in the building sector. For this, we are working on a climate budget for the city,' he adds.
