Cities on the Frontline Speaker Series
#06 – Low Carbon Cities and Real Estate
“An affordable green home is the strongest resilience tool you can provide a person” – Tom Woodward; Climate Lead, Reall. The sixth Cities on the Frontline event of 2021, speakers discussed the importance and urgency of green and low-carbon real estate development.
With regions across Africa and Asia growing rapidly, there is an unprecedented opportunity to build environmentally responsible, climate resilient and accessible housing. Reall estimates that 70% of buildings that will exist in these continents by 2050 are yet to be built. Furthermore, Woodward highlighted the importance of taking a holistic approach to development and that climate resilience and poverty reduction go hand-in-hand.
The session also featured Wendy Haryanto, Executive Director of the Jakarta Property Institute who discussed the city’s existing regulations, and efforts to go green. While Jakarta faces exceptional challenges such as sea-level rise and urban sprawl, the city is making efforts to decarbonize and green the built environment. Haryanto shared that the city needs green building regulations, to monitoring implementation and incentivize developers to build low-carbon. She highlighted larger infrastructure and policy changes that could be made, such as the provision of multi-modal transportation options, and modifications to the supply and demand management strategies around the use of cars.
This session highlighted the need for commercially viable climate mitigation strategies that can be applied to the real estate sector, as well as comprehensive management processes, for widespread and holistic resilience.
Tom Woodward
Climate Lead, Reall
“An affordable, green home is the strongest resilience tool you can provide a person. It is shelter from inclement weather, and offers increased access to energy, transport, and much more.”
“We have estimated that there is a $17 trillion market for affordable housing.”
Tom Woodward‘s presentation
Wendy Haryanto
Executive Director, Jakarta Property Institute
“Governments need to incentivize green building performance.”
“We are trying to create transit-oriented areas, free of carbon emissions, meaning no cars, where all streets are is open to the public and are walkable.”
