Emirates Green Building Council (EmiratesGBC), an independent forum aimed promoting green building practices, is working with industry partners to develop a green financing scheme that will support the funding of green retrofit projects.

In line with its commitment to the UAE’s vision of a ‘Green Economy for Sustainable Development,’ the Council’s dedicated task forces are discussing various aspects that will promote the development of sustainable built environments.

For the green financing scheme, a task force of EmiratesGBC is working with Dubai Carbon Centre for Excellence to address the current challenge of funding green retrofit projects.

The council is also in discussion with various banks and financial institutions to obtain their inputs. Over the next six months, the council hopes to develop a mechanism for financing energy efficiency retrofit projects in the UAE in partnership with other stakeholders.

Another task force of the council is developing technical guidelines for greening existing buildings.

The team, which comprises consultants, contractors, building owners, facility manager, equipment providers and material suppliers, prepares comprehensive, practical and cost effective guidelines that contain various aspects of green retrofits.

These cover energy efficiency, water conservation, waste management, indoor environment and sustainable material purchasing.  The recommendations will go through a rigorous internal and external review process prior to publication towards the end of the year.

Adnan Sharafi, EmiratesGBC chairman said: “The task forces of EmiratesGBC are exploring definite strategies to address the key challenges that affect the development of sustainable built environments.

“One of the key issues the industry faces today is financing for retrofit projects, and we are confident that through our partners we can drive the creating of a green financing scheme shortly. Our goal is to enable UAE to become one of the top five global leaders in helping to reduce the ecological footprint by 2015.”

Early this year, the Council had called for volunteers to serve on ten task forces. EmiratesGBC members including leading organizations across the supply chain industry expressed interest and registered as volunteers.

To manage key stakeholder relationships, the Council has identified representatives to form task forces that aim to maintain strong relationships with its current stakeholders and ensure that partnership objectives and agreements are being met. Another team looks after membership offerings and a different crew manages the development of the Council’s events calendar.

The EmiratesGBC website also recently launched an ‘Academy Page’, which provides numerous technical papers to strengthen awareness on sustainable built environments. – TradeArabia News Service