National

Sustainability First: How Construction Affects Climate Change

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – When we think of the biggest offenders impacting the climate, we often think of things like air travel, oceanic shipping freights, and industrial manufacturing.

Published

12 months ago

May 11, 2023

Marlena Leonard

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – When we think of the biggest offenders impacting the climate, we often think of things like air travel, oceanic shipping freights, and industrial manufacturing.

An aspect that many people don’t consider is the environmental cost of construction.

Global Management Consulting Firm, Mckinsey and Company, reported in 2021 that construction is responsible for almost 40 percent of global CO2 emissions from fuel combustion, and 25 percent of greenhouse gas emissions overall.

With the world’s growing population, and here in The Bahamas with the ever-growing number of new developments, this often overlooked aspect could make a serious impact in the coming years.

But construction doesn’t have to be such a carbon dumper, and as the world works to reduce carbon emissions in the coming years, green building certification programs like the leadership in energy and environmental design, also known as LEED, are hoping to curb the impact.

Leed’s rating tiers are on a points system, where credits are earned through addressing carbon emissions, energy efficiency, water, waste, transportation, materials, health and indoor environmental quality.

In the United States, some areas incentivize LEED certified projects through things like tax breaks, grants and expedited permitting.

Locally, there has been one project so far built with LEED certification in mind, the University of The Bahamas’ Small Island Sustainability Complex which opened in 2018.