Capitalizing off of Climate change | Architecture research

CAPITALIZING OFF OF CLIMATE CHANGE Architectural Research-Seminar

School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi

Photo credits-JM Pavval

G. Sai Manaswini | Gayatri Jain | Lakshmi B | Rohin Sikka | Vibhuti Kathpalia | 2019

SPA, Delhi 2019 Paper

SPA, Delhi, Dec.2-4, 2019, New Delhi, India

Capitalizing off of Climate Change An insight into the phenomenon of climate change through the lens of greenwash.

Lakshmi B.

Gayatri Jain A/2918/2016

Rohin Sikka

A/2936/2016

A/2970/2016

G. Sai Manaswini

Palak Verma

Vibhuti Kathpalia

A/2810/2015

A/2958/2016

A/2997/2016

ABSTRACT This paper aims to study the phenomenon of capitalizing off of climate change by looking at the concept of greenwashing in various industries and understanding the direct and indirect effects it has on climate change.

With changes in climate worsening by the day, understanding the contribution of the construction industry in the bigger phenomenon of climate change is of utmost importance. This study gives an insight into the corporations hiding behind the mask of ‘greenwashing’. The research was divided into two sections; the first involved critically looking at literature to understand the history as well as the various impacts of climate change, capitalism and green marketing, while in the second section, secondary case studies, inferential analysis of IPCC reports and expert interviews were conducted. The data inferred from the case studies pointed at patterns of green marketing strategies, annual CO emissions and revenue trends over a period of time, which were graphically mapped to draw links between them.

This study implicatively insinuates that greenwashing, if not tackled, will only become a barrier to the change towards a sustainable future.

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KEYWORDS Climate change; Climate capitalism; Greenwash; Green marketing; Construction industry; Air pollution

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INTRODUCTION Climate change is the cause célèbre of the century. However, it is generally understood only through the environmental impacts induced due to the phenomenon. We understand and experience only a part of it.

This paper examines the phenomenon of climate change and its complex and dynamic relationship with capitalism in order to study the direct and indirect implications of capitalizing off of climate change. The economic and social impacts of this phenomenon are often seen as mere aftereffects. The environmental changes, as predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change in their assessment reports, have led corporations to cash in, on the vulnerability of the general population.

This link between capitalism and climate change has been unexplored, specifically in the construction sector. With an understanding of the phenomenon as a whole, we focus specifically on the study of organizations/individuals that are profiting off of climate change, namely the idea of ‘greenwashing’. The air pollution in Delhi NCR was studied to understand climate change under the context of urbanization and construction at a micro scale.

It was stated that: Climate

change

is

the

periodic

modification of Earth's climate brought

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about as a result of the changes in the atmosphere

as

well

as

interactions

between the atmosphere and various other geologic,

chemical,

biological,

and

geographic factors within the Earth system (T.Jackson, 2019).

It is a global phenomenon that is considerably affecting the lives of humans over the years. In the economic system of capitalism, climate change is being understood as a commodity paving way to climate capitalism.

According to the book “The Wrath of Capital - Neoliberalism and Climate Change Politics”, the author suggests that climate capitalism is ‘tweaking the economy in a way that it capitalizes from climate change, rather than just simply cutting carbon emissions, which would hurt the economy of companies’ (Parr, 2012). These so-called ‘green-markets’ (Henion et al., 1976) have been advertised into becoming lifestyles. In general, consumers these days tend to be more willing to pay more for products that have been produced in ways which protect the amenities of the ecosystem. This ‘price premium is hypothesized to induce producers to use and protect ecosystems in ways that lead to the joint provision of ecosystem services’ (Ferraro et al., 2005).

Green-marketing has led to the concept of ‘greenwash’.

The Oxford dictionary defines greenwash as ‘the disinformation disseminated by an organization

so

environmentally

as

to

present

responsible

an

public

image’ (Kubiak, 2016, p. 95).

A study of Chevron Co., an oil corporation which is the ‘world's second-largest carbon emitter’ (Heede, 2019; Riley, 2017) and its green campaigns in order to protect the company image, has helped this study to draw links between greenwash and environmental impacts.

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‘Buildings and construction activities together account for 36% of global final energy use and 39% of energy-related carbon dioxide (CO ) emissions when upstream power generation is included’ (Dulac et al., 2017, p. 6). ‘After water, concrete is the most widely used substance on Earth and the third largest carbon dioxide emitter in the world with up to 2.8bn tonnes’ (Watts, 2019), so the impacts of greenwash in the building and construction industry was studied by analysing fly ash as a building material.

Our built environment is, in these terms, ‘outgrowing the natural one’ (Resnick, 2018; Watts, 2019), and it is crucial for the building industry to mitigate and slow down climate change.

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LITERATURE REVIEW We aim to understand the phenomenon of climate change and the dynamics between green market trends and how climate change has been perceived. This leads us to understand climate change with regard to the current model of economics i.e. capitalism, at a global level. The aim is to sensitize the architectural community towards the growing phenomenon of ‘climate capitalism’ and ‘greenwash’ which drastically affect not only the construction sector but all of us as individuals and also the climate.

The literature review has been divided into sub-heads under various concepts and case studies.

1) Climate change a) History b) Impacts c) Air pollution of Delhi-NCR d) Policies 2) Mitigation strategies a) Carbon offset markets b) Greenmarkets c) Biofuels d) Green building strategies 3) Capitalism 4) Eco-trends and Greenwash

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





Climate change In order to understand the nature of the current climate change phenomenon, a broad perspective is required in terms of time and space. The Earth from its origin has undergone a series of changes in climate.

The existing ecosystem was disturbed and reconfigured during every such climate abnormality. This is the basis of human evolution. During the Pleistocene era, which extends from 12,000 to 2.5 million years ago, the Earth experienced periodic transitions into and out of ice ages. But going back further in time from roughly 2.5 to 5.5 million years (the Pliocene era),  conditions were again marked by relative climate stability, albeit an average Earth temperature several degrees higher than in the Holocene. We, therefore, know that ‘natural agents can tip the Earth’s climate from one long-standing state to another’ (Dartnell, 2019; Incropera, 2016).

The current climate change was first observed during the 1970s wherein the beginning it was believed that ‘the global temperatures were actually getting cooler’ (Peterson et al., 2008).

Since its come out, An Inconvenient Truth provides several factual statements that have proven true over the past decade. The extent of the catastrophic climate situation has made itself more evident, as confirmed by science.

The increase in major storms and high category hurricanes has been substantiated, though some of the increase is attributed to differences in the severity rating systems and the cyclical increase in storms.

The doubling of the death toll of global warming in the next 25 years is an extrapolation of data including numbers during deadly heat waves, the likes of which are expected to occur with greater frequency.

Over one million species will become extinct as a result of climate change.

Scientists identify global warming as becoming dangerous to animal species as habitat destruction and land clearing.

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New species that are more dangerous and invasive will proliferate as a result of global warming. Scientists are more concerned about the human influence of moving species around.

Even campers cannot bring their own wood to national parks because of these invasive migrations.  Melting ice shelves will rise sea levels over 20 feet. Scientists agree that the ice caps are melting, including Greenland’s ice sheets, but they disagree on the extent and speed at which it will occur.

The collision between human civilization and nature. Humans nowadays have a moral obligation to judiciously use technology, by applying their wisdom, especially in the current climate of urbanization, deforestation, and wildfires. Additionally, people now need to accept the change in climate crisis, just because climate change happens gradually does not mean that it is not a serious problem. 

Air pollution of Delhi NCT - climate change under the context of urbanization According to the land use maps of Delhi NCT, from monitoring land-use change and its drivers in Delhi, India using multitemporal satellite data, from 1977 to 2014, the built-up area has ‘increased by 398.94% from 1977’ (Jain et al., 2016, p. 07).

‘This dramatic change in the built-up area in Delhi is concurrent with the economic reform period’ (Jain et al., 2016, p. 07). All of these contributions might have contributed to Delhi’s pollution.

As per the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, a total of ‘28,48,000 motor vehicles were registered in the union territory of Delhi NCR in the year 1997’ (Jain et al., 2016, p. 07). In 2016, this no. increased by 240.77% to ‘97,05,000 motor vehicles’ (Jain et al., 2016, p. 07) even when the road/rail area has only increased by 104.47% from 1993 to 2014 almost half as much as the growth of motor vehicles. The exploitation of the resources might also account for Delhi’ pollution.

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SPA, Delhi, Dec.2-4, 2019, New Delhi, India

Fig. 1 Land use Land cover map of Delhi NCR, India (Jain et al., 2016, p. 07) .

As the capital of India, Delhi has developed across all sectors, manufacturing, transportation, and housing – leading to an increase in air pollution.

Receptor modelling studies of Delhi found ‘road dust, vehicle exhaust, coal and biomass combustion, open refuse burning, secondary aerosols, and construction activities’ as major particulate pollutants (Guttikunda and Calori, 2013, p. 102; Chelani et al., 2010; Chowdhury et al.,

2007). The figure also includes the two ring roads, main roads, highways, brick kilns, power plants, and some interesting points. In India, the construction sector is growing rapidly. It includes the production of brick and cement. As evident in figure 5, the brick kilns are mostly found along the boundary in the case of NCT.

Fig. 2 Road/Rail network Area (%) of Delhi NCT for (a)1977, (b)1993, (c)2006, (d)2014 (Jain et al., 2016, p. 07)

Fig. 3 Built up Area (%) of Delhi NCT for (a)1977, (b)1993, (c)2006, (d)2014 (Jain et al., 2016, p. 07)

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SPA, Delhi, Dec.2-4, 2019, New Delhi, India

Fig. 3 No. of motor vehicles registered in Delhi NCT, India from 1997 to 2016. (Ministry of Road Transport and Highways)

The dots in Figure 5 indicate the location of 1000 kilns using a fuel mixture of coal and biomass, produce about 25,000 bricks per day. The area demarcated in rectangles north of the outer ring road contains almost 60% of the kilns.

Most of the installations are conventional fixed chimney bull trench kilns that are more polluting

and

compared

to

energy-inefficient the

newer,

as

cleaner

technologies, such as Hoffmann, high draught or vertical shaft brick kilns (Guttikunda and Calori, 2013, p. 103; “Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAIAsia) Center,” 2010).

Table 1 summarizes the emerging technologies and their operating characteristics. New technologies such as zigzag, vertical shaft brick kilns, and Hoffmann could result in a reduction in Pm emission levels by at least 40% compared to the FCK technology currently in use.

Table 2 summarises the total emissions for the ear 2010 along with sector wise contribution. Brick kilns are responsible for 11% of the PM10 emissions, 15% of PM2.5 emissions and 12% of CO emissions. Kilns Seminar 2019- Group 8

Fig. 5 Study domain over Delhi, along with the location of, main highways, satellite cities, brick kiln clusters, and power plants. (Guttikunda and Calori, 2013, p. 102)

are not permitted to work within the city limits despite a Supreme Court order in1996.

Figure 5 however suggests that these kilns are situated near the border and are a major contributor to Delhi-NCT's air pollution.

Kilns are not permitted to work within the city limits despite a Supreme Court order in 1996. Figure 5 however suggests that these kilns are situated near the border and are a major contributor to Delhi-NCT’s air pollution.

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Table 2 Comparison of technical and operational benefits and constraints of current and alternative brick manufacturing technologies (Guttikunda et al., 2014)

Table 1 An activity based emissions inventory (tons/year, rounded to 00’s) by sector (% total by pollutant) for NCT of Delhi, India, in 2010. (Guttikunda and Calori, 2013, p. 105)

Policies ‘The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change) was created to provide regular scientific assessments to the various policymakers on the subject of climate change.’(“IPCC — Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,” n.d.) These scientific assessments by the IPCC include the implications and potential future risks of climate change, and also outline several adaptation and mitigation options.(“IPCC — Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,” n.d.)

The IPCC assessment reports are used in the United Nation conferences in order to create goals and policies that can help adapt to and mitigate climate change. ‘The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), of the United Nations were adopted by all of its member states in 2015 as a universal call to action to Seminar 2019- Group 8

end poverty, protect the planet and ensure peace and prosperity for all by the year 2030’ (“Sustainable Development Goals | UNDP in India,” n.d.). India, being a member of the United Nations has adopted policies to reach the Sustainable Development Goals. The 9th goal (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and the 11th goal (Sustainable Cities and communities) deal specifically with the building and construction sector (“Sustainable Development Goals | UNDP in India,” n.d.).

In 2008, the Government of India launched a National Action Plan for Climate Change, focusing on 8 different aspects for the environmental good. The National Mission for Sustainable Habitat, a mission of NAPCC, deals specifically with the construction sector. The National Mission for Sustainable Habitat aims to extend the existing ECBC, with the aim of promoting

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energy efficiency as a core component of urban planning. It also aims to provide emphasis on urban waste management along with incentives for public transportation.

The NAPCC can be further subdivided into the State Action Plan for Climate Change.

(India Today et al., 2018) The Energy Conservation Act of 2001 led to the formation of the BEE, known as the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). BEE is regulatory body for the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) introduced in 2007. (“BEE_ECBC 2017,” n.d.) The ECBC is a voluntary code that majorly deals with the building envelope in terms of lighting, ventilation and heat gain, HVAC systems. ‘BEE has several programs to set labels and energy efficient standards for refrigerators, air conditioners, motors and other appliances. Labelled products have been in the market since 2006.’ (“BEE_ECBC 2017,” n.d.)

The National Building Code (NBC) introduced the sustainability chapter in 2005. The Chapter provides an insight into the ‘kind of provisions that need to be considered in order to achieve a sustainable approach. Factors like roof systems, window-wall ratios, waste water management systems have been talked about.’ (“National Building Code of India 2016 Volume 2,” 2016) The current Government of India’s policies in the direction of achieving SDGs include Swachh Bharat mission, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Smart City Mission, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana, among others. Out of which the Swachh Bharat Mission and Smart City Mission deal with the building and transport sector among other things.

In terms of the city level planning schemes affecting the construction sector, the byelaws of the various cities are implemented by their respective Development Authorities and Municipal Corporations. The bye-laws do not include regulations for building material purchase.

It is seen that there is a lack of mention, in the policies, about green markets systems

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existing and the absence of a regulatory framework to cope with greenwashing in the building sector.

Mitigation strategies Carbon offset market ' Carbon offsetting ' means compensating for the CO2 emissions by avoiding the same amount of emissions from happening elsewhere. More specifically, a carbon offset means to compensate for the release of one ton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by stopping a ton of CO2 from entering the atmosphere elsewhere on Earth.

‘On an average, this cap requires participating countries to reduce their emissions 5.2% below their 1990 baseline between 2008 and 2012.’ (Simeonova and Breidenich, n.d.) Countries must meet their goals within a defined timeline by:  lowering their own emissions; and/or  trading emission allowances with countries that have excess allowances; and/or  meeting their targets by buying carbon credits.

This ensures that the overall costs of reducing emissions are kept as low as possible.

There are two kinds of offset markets: voluntary and compliance. The voluntary market consists of consumers who are not obligated to lower their GHG emissions but choose to do so of their own accord. The compliance market consists of entities that are legally obligated not to exceed a certain number of GHG emissions; in this market, though, an entity can buy offsets in order to ensure that it does not surpass this limit.

(Parr, 2012, p. 31) Greenmarkets A green commodity market includes recyclable or degradable materials, products that have a small ecological footprint, products whose ingredients have not been tested on animals, products that support socioeconomic development initiatives, and Page 7

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products that are produced with renewable resources. (Parr, 2012, p. 24) The term "green market" refers to the resold goods being used productively again, which is the most environmentally friendly use of discontinued or previously used products.

Even though reselling green market goods sometimes competes with the original manufacturer, it even helps the manufacturer and the original end-user by letting the original end-user to receive some value for the product they no longer wish to use and in turn can use that value in purchasing new goods from the manufacturer.

The green free market favours the current system of privatization at the expense of exploring new economic alternatives; for this reason, it is mere cronyism. (Parr, 2012, p. 23) It panders to neoliberal forces by commercializing global heating. In doing so, it reinforces the structural distortions of economic neoliberalism. There is no direct correlation between global green economic output and socioeconomic equity, which will happen only if there are mechanisms in place that can recognize that a green economy has to be fine-tuned in a way that allows it to become a transformative force that can prompt the development of economic opportunities for the poor, be a means for wealth redistribution, and shift the dominant cultural value away from privileging competition, private property ownership, and wealth accumulation. (Parr, 2012, p. 23) When green artefacts first appeared on the market in the latter part of the twentieth century, they offered an alternative to the excesses of the consumer global market and the individualism of commodity culture.

This oppositional position made them popular, but it has also ironically increased the clout of the green commodity within the market, resulting in the seamless promotion of those self-same relations of production (equating the liberal’s goal for social justice with economic growth, understood as private enterprise freed of government interference) originally argued against.

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From here, ‘the artefacts have been incorporated into the system of commodity production’ (Parr, 2012, p. 24).

Biofuels ‘Biofuel is any fuel that is derived from biomass—that is, plant or algae material or animal waste.’(Eckley Selin and Lehman, 2018, p. 1).

Biofuel has for a long time been considered a renewable energy source. It has been recommended as a sustainable alternative from the fossil fuels such as petroleum, coal etc, due to the increased concerns of the effect of fossil fuels on global warming.

Since the raw material for biofuel being feedstock, is it generally viewed as a cheap and sustainable option especially in the current context of shortage of oil and rising petroleum prices. The cause of great concern for the Biofuel critics is the increase use of certain type of biofuels which will lead to the removal of large areas of agricultural land away from food production. There are also associated costs of the refining process which lead to a great environmental impact.

(Eckley Selin and Lehman, 2018) Capitalism In order to understand the greenmarket trends of today, it is required to fathom the prevailing system of economics, which is ‘capitalism’. According to the Oxford Dictionary, ‘Capitalism is an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state’. (“Capitalism,” 2019) Xing and Hersh (2003) understand ‘market capitalism’ as simply ‘the logic of history’ or a ‘natural outcome’ of the process of development of cultural, historical and religious issues. (Xing and Hersh, cited in Thoby, 2013).

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Weber depicts it as a system aiming to provide human needs thanks to ‘the entrepreneurial organization of capital, rationalized technology, free labour, and unrestrained markets’ (Collins, cited in Thoby, 2013). Here, the growth of the government is crucial, as it is responsible for the execution and compliance of a computable system of laws along with the notion of citizenship.

Impacts of the Model - Capitalism was associated with the idea of democracy in the very beginning. It was a concept which, in theory was eventually supposed to help the poor.(Thoby, 2013) In the current model of capitalism according to the author Naomi Klein, ‘the repercussions of climate change will be severely felt by the economically weaker sections’ (2014).

She says, we are in a currently stagnant, as the best means to tackle climate change would require a change in the system which will threaten the rich minority and their stand in the country. This current system of Capitalism was designed from the very beginning to ‘systematically sabotage our response to climate change.’(Klein, 2014) As Arthur Thoby argues in his article, capitalism has in itself developed a mass following which leads to the idea that capitalism can be considered a religion (Thoby, 2013).

The relationship between capitalism and climate change can be understood as cyclic.

But when both the phenomena are overlapped they pave the way to climate capitalism. Climate capitalism, according to the book “The Wrath of Capital Neoliberalism and Climate Change Politics”

by Adrian Parr, is changing the economy such that it capitalizes from climate change, instead of focusing on the environmental impact of the companies or organisations

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which will lead to damage of the economy.

(2012).

Eco-trends and Greenwash The environmental performance of the Corporations is said to have rapidly increased in past three decades. These claims have led people to believe in the ‘positive green impacts’ created by these environmental practices. The average consumer is being greenwashed into understanding that the environmental impact claims made by these companies as far greater than the what they actually are.

(Lyon and Montgomery, 2015, p. 223). The advertising of ‘green’ products and ’green’ labels has increased over the years.

Organisations such as FTC (Federal Trade Commission) and DEFRA (Department for Environment Food Rural Affairs.) have the responsibility to offer guidelines in order to curb greenwashing.(Lyon and Montgomery, 2015, p. 224).

However, a number of people think that what people take from interaction is contextual and processed through their own cognitive constructs, so that greenwashing does not have to be intentional.

There are various means of greenwashing as listed below -

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SPA, Delhi, Dec.2-4, 2019, New Delhi, India

Construct

Definition

References

Examples

Decoupling

The disconnect between the structures and the activities of an organization

(Meyer and Rowan, 1977)

Ineffectual Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) departments

Means/End decoupling

The disconnect between the actions and the goals of an organization

(Bromley and Powell, 2012)

Biofuels are adopted to reduce global warming, but it is unclear they help

Symbolic management

The disconnect between promises and actions

(Ramus and Montiel, 2005; Westphal and Zajac, 1994)

Firms promise to green themselves but do not

Halo effect

Inability to evaluate individual attributes apart from an overall impression

(Russo et al., 1981)

Consumer learns a firm’s products are organic, so also assumes they must use renewable energy

Astroturf lobbying

Covert funding of a “front group” that can make an argument more credible than the funder

(Lyon and Montgomery, 2015)

“CARE for Michigan” (funded by utilities) lobbies against renewable energy

Pooling

Taking the same costly action as a more able individual in order to appear identical

(Spence, 1973; Delmas and MontesSancho, 2009)

Firms join voluntary programs but do not change behaviour

Selective disclosure

Disclosing positive information while withholding negative information

(Lyon and Maxwell, 2011; Lyon and Montgomery, 2015)

“Drivers help protect the environment.

They save trees from being used for paper towels.”

Cheap talk

Verbal claim with nothing to back it up

(Farrell and Rabin, 1996)

Firms promise to green themselves but do not

Costly state falsification

Expending effort to distort the ability of others to verify the state of the world

(Hamilton and Zilberman, 2006; Lacker and Weinberg, 1989)

Fraudulent ecolabels

Implied superiority

Suggests one product is better than others without quite saying so

(Snyder, 1989)

“No other product is more effective

Table 3 Mechanisms of Misleading Behaviour. (Lyon and Montgomery, 2015) Seminar 2019- Group 8

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METHODOLOGY The study has been taken further by understanding the basics of climate change and capitalism as individual phenomena.

We then tried to understand the interrelation between the two of them.

Understanding climate capitalism led to the construct of greenwashing in various industries and with the oil industry being one of the major carbon emitters, first a secondary case study of Chevron, an oil corporation which is the ‘world’s 2nd largest carbon emitter’ was undertaken (Heed, 2019; Riley, 2017). Interlinking the empirical data on carbon emissions, yearover-year revenue and eco-marketing strategies of corporations to formulate a theory that explains the relationship between the same was crucial in proving the hypothesis that greenmarkets are adversely affecting climate change. This case study helps understand the aspects of greenwashing and how it is carried out. The construction industry, being another leading cause of waste and emissions has greenwashing prevalent in it too. Various materials and products were then chosen to be studied and analysed. Data on Carbon emissions, policies, reports, etc. have been studied on a global scale. Moving to a micro scale, air pollution in Delhi NCR, India and the impacts of the transport and construction industry were studied to understand the links and relationships between these industries and climate change.  Understanding the phenomenon of climate change and its relationship with capitalism through literature reviews of Origins by Lewis Dartnell, This Changes Everything; Capitalism vs The Climate by Naomi Klein, The Uninhabitable Earth, Life After Warming by David WallaceWells, The Wrath of Capital Neoliberalism and Climate Change and Climate Change Politics by Adrian Parr, and The Means and End of Greenwash, by Thomas P. Lyon and A. Wren Montgomery.

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Fig. 4 Variation in indoor radon concentration in different types of fly ash brick houses

Inferential analysis of IPCC reports published from 1990 to 2014.  Interviews of experts in the field.  Quantitative analysis of secondary case studies. (e.g. Chevron Co.)  Study of the impact of construction industry on global climate change in the sector using secondary case studies. (e.g. Fly Ash Bricks)  Study of the impact of construction industry on air pollution of Delhi NCR, India.  Study of sustainability and environmental policies related to construction in Delhi NCR, India.

Climate change, being a global phenomenon, was mainly studied at a global level, but Delhi’s air pollution being a controversial contextual event, its relationship with construction industry was also analysed. As future architects, it is of utmost importance to understand the impacts of the construction industry on the climate. Designing truly sustainable buildings requires prerequisite knowledge of the reality behind the ‘green practices’ and ‘green materials’ preached by the market to be able to make informed choices.

We are not particularly qualified to understand all the aspects of the topic and the implications of the statistical data on the larger phenomena of climate change. As 

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architecture students, we can understand the workings of the construction industry but, in order to be able to steer it towards climate impacts, an individual with a scientific background or qualifications may be more suitable.

FINDINGS We aim to understand the various links between greenmarkets, green marketing strategies and climate change using examples from construction (Fly ash) and other industries (Chevron Co., Bio fuels) Construction industry- Fly Ash The Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC) sent a note to various ministries proposing fly ash bricks to be mandatory in all government construction projects by agencies like CPWD (Central Public Works Department), DDA (Delhi Development Authority), DMRC (Delhi Metro Rail Corporation) etc.

This was as a response to the ‘National Clean Air Programme’, which led to the discussion in “10 times increase” target in the use of fly ash. Every project within a radius of 300kms from a thermal power plant is mandated to use fly ash bricks.(Sharma, 2018).

Also, the GRIHA V 2015 feasibility checklist The GRIHA 2015 feasibility checklist outlines how up to 6 points can be received for replacing OPC (Ordinary Portland Cement) with fly-ash or any BIS recommended waste. This is under the section for ‘Sustainable Building Materials’ which focuses on the use of waste materials such as fly ash as a building material.(“GRIHA Checklists | Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assesment,” n.d.)

According to a report by The International Finance Corporation, the embodied energy of the fly ash blocks is about 0.83MJ while the ‘Global Warming Potential’ is about 20kg Carbon Dioxide Equivalent.(“IFCIndia-Construction-Materials-DatabaseMethodology-Report.pdf,” n.d.; “IPCC — Seminar 2019 - Group 8

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Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,” n.d.). These values are lesser in comparison to other building materials such as concrete, aluminium etc. Fly ash bricks are considered to be a sustainable alternative and various organisations are readily supporting the use of fly ash bricks as it considered an economically and environmentally feasible option. The use of fly ash has increased to about 63.28% by 2016-17. (Sharma, 2018). This has led to an increase in fly ash use.

Fly ash as a Coal burning by-product contains radioactive metals such as uranium, thorium, which according to studies, disperse radiation into the environment. The storage and manufacturing of Fly Ash bricks need to be monitored heavily and can be extremely hazardous.(Fucic et al., 2011).

In a comparative study conducted in 2003, the radon levels of mud dwellings, cemented brick dwellings and fly ash brick dwellings was measured over a specific period. It was found, in fly ash brick dwellings, the radon levels are found to be higher compared with cemented and mud dwellings as fly ash is a by-product of coal and contains concentrated amount of radionuclides.(Chauhan et al., 2003).

The annual effective dose received by the occupants of fly ash brick dwellings varies from 3.4 to 7:7 mSv, which is therefore on the higher limit side (3–10 mSv) as recommended by (Fucic et al., 2011; ICRP, 1993).

Fig. 7 Variation in indoor radon in fly ash brick, mud and cemented houses Page 12

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Radon rates in fly ash brick buildings were observed to be substantially more when compared to cemented and mud structures.

So, keeping these results in view, the health effects of fly ash whiz., external irradiation, and inhalation of radon decay products are important. The result of the experiment concluded that the use of fly ash as a building construction material should be discouraged.

The type of greenwash that can be recognised in this situation is both ‘hidden trade-off’ and also ‘lesser of two evils’. The social impact of the fly ash brick construction can possibly lead to health issues when exposed for long periods of time. This aspect is hidden to the public which leads to an uninformed decision about the construction material. With the regulation of a ‘hazardous’ material in the industry will lead to health problems in the future.

This scenario could also be the lesser of two evils greenwashing where in order to cope with the environmental impact of materials such as cement and concrete, Fly ash waste is being projected to be ‘greener’.

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Chevron Co. To understand the impacts of green marketing systems on the climate of the planet and economy of the organization, Chevron Co., ‘the world’s second largest emitter of carbon’ (Heed, 2019; Riley, 2017) was studied. Mapping down the main events, from the ‘oil spill by BP in the wake of 2010’, followed by ‘We agree’ campaign (Cherry and Sneirson, 2012, p. 131), ‘Refinery explosion’ (“What do we know about the top 20 global polluters?,” 2019) and ‘Brazil oil spill of 2011’ (“Chevron to blame for Brazil spill,” 2011), ‘100 million dollar investment in future energy fund’ (Affairs, 2018), a pattern between debacles and green marketing strategies was established. Later, these green strategies were thoroughly analysed and distinct greenwashing trends were observed in them.

To re-establish the hypothesis that greenmarkets are adversely affecting climate change, Chevron’s annual revenue of the years from the above-mentioned timeline was collected from Google finance and compared to its carbon dioxide emissions. In 2011, carbon dioxide

Fig. 8 Year-over-year revenue and revenue growth of Chevron Corporation from years 2006-2018.

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Fig. 9 Timeline of Chevron Corporation from years 2006-2018 (“Chevron to blame for Brazil spill,” 2011; “What do we know about the top 20 global polluters?,” 2019; “Financial statements for Chevron Corporation retrieved from Google finance,” 2019)

Fig. 10 Metric tonnes of CO2 emissions by Chevron Corporation from years 2007-2018. (Heed, 2019)

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emissions decreased to ‘369 metric tonnes of CO ’ from ‘388 metric tonnes of 2010’ (Heed, 2019), the year after ‘oil spill by BP’ (“What do we know about the top 20 global polluters?,” 2019). It is noteworthy that in the same year the annual revenue growth of the corporation went down by ‘70.79%’ (“Financial statements for Chevron Corporation retrieved from Google finance,” 2019). It was noted that after the ‘We Agree campaign by the end of 2010’, the revenue growth increased to ‘209.97%’ (“Financial statements for Chevron Corporation retrieved from Google finance,” 2019), a similar pattern was observed at the end of 2011, after the ‘Brazil oil spill’ (“What do we know about the top 20 global polluters?,” 2019) and when the annual revenue growth went down by ‘32.90%’, and later increased by ‘35.65% in 2018’ (“Financial statements for Chevron Corporation retrieved from Google finance,” 2019) after Chevron’s marketing of the ‘investment in future energy fund’ (Affairs, 2018). From the data it was analysed that the (greenwash) green marketing strategies negatively affect carbon dioxide emissions and positively affect revenue growth. However, with the launch of the ‘We Agree campaign by the 2

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end of 2009’, the revenue growth increased to ‘209.97%’ (“Financial statements for Chevron Corporation retrieved from Google finance,” 2019).

Carbon offset market Serious concerns persist over whether offset projects fully comply with the additional requirement or are involved in doublecounting (selling the same offset more than once). Offsets can be sold for projects that simply do not exist. For example, Vatican City encountered this situation when it was given a ‘generous donation to the value of ₠100,000 in 2007 from the start-up carbonoffset company Planktos/ KlimaFa’ (“Carbon offsets,” 2010b). The gift came in the form of carbon offsets to be generated from planting trees over fifteen hectares of land on an island by the Tisza River in Hungary. ‘The offsets would have made Vatican City the first carbon-neutral state’ (Parr, 2012, p. 33). In a highly publicized event, Russ George, president and CEO of Planktos/KlimaFa, launched the ‘“Vatican forest” by presenting Cardinal Paul Poupard with a carbon-offset certificate in July 2007, thereby piggy-backing the donation to rouse publicity for Planktos/KlimaFa.’ (“Carbon offsets,” 2010b; Glatz, 2010) ‘Even by

Fig. 11 (Affairs, 2018; “Chevron to blame for Brazil spill,” 2011; “Financial statements for Chevron Corporation retrieved from Google finance,” 2019; “What do we know about the top 20 global polluters?,” 2019; Heed, 2019) Seminar 2019 - Group 8

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2011, however, the trees still did not exist.

The Vatican went on to take legal action to protect its reputation’ (“Carbon offsets,” 2010b; Glatz, 2010; Parr, 2012, p. 33).

Consider the example of the two hundred Adivasis (tribal people) from the Dhule district of India who had worked the same piece of land for generations. The farmers were ‘offered $4,000 in 2007’ (“Carbon offsets,” 2010a) if they would allow windmills to be built on their land. The project was part of a renewable-energy carbon-offset scheme. ‘The farmers refused, but the 550 windmills of the Suzlon Energy Ltd. wind project were installed regardless’ (“Carbon offsets,” 2010a). The situation constitutes nothing less than a massive land grab. It left the farmers without a livelihood, broke up the community (farmers had to leave the area to find work in other parts of the country), and ‘put an end to the promise given to the farmers of legally owning the land in the future’ (“Carbon offsets,” 2010a; Parr, 2012, p. 33). As the individual or business buys offsets to counter the violence perpetrated against both the environment and future generations, they may also indirectly engage with another kind of violence, as demonstrated via the example of the Benet people in Uganda and the Adivasi in India. The irony is that consumers buy offsets to neutralize the carbon footprint of their excessive consumption so that they can continue consuming. Put simply, ‘consumption trumps environmental concerns. What the priority exposes is the political problem of consumer politics’ (Parr, 2012, p. 35).

Bio fuels From the oil crisis of 1973 and 1979, the concept of replacing the fossil fuels and other such products with alternative technology started to seem attractive. But apart from the development of bioethanol from cane sugar in Brazil, the idea was not worked upon because it did not seem economically feasible. ‘It was the search for some kind of sustainable development in the Seminar 2019 - Group 8

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mid-2000s that led to the emergence of a political interest in biofuels’ (Furfari, 2019).

During the Green Revolution, there was a surplus of grain produced and it was these, rather than the oil companies that initially set the ball of biofuels into motion. Both the US and the EU, together with other international organisations are pushing biofuels as a ‘solution to climate and food scarcity, and encouraging policies that will facilitate further production of these crops’ (“Biofuels,” 2019).

The other problem associated with biofuels is that the quantity of biofuel required to generate sufficient energy would require enormous deforestation and a large quantity of water. The production, processing and transport of biofuels would contribute significant amounts of carbon to the atmosphere. Biofuels were once deemed the saviours of the economy and the answers to our ever growing energy needs. But they are not as clean as they claim to be. Though biofuels have a number of advantages over fossil fuels, their integration into the fuel supply chain has to be done with great care to ensure that their potential disadvantages are, if not eliminated, at least minimized.

CONCLUSION Through our research, we understood that contrary to what basic logic would suggest, that green marketing strategies would drive consumers and organizations to a positive environmental performance regardless of the performance levels by the corporation, green marketing strategies can in fact harm the environment. Our study revealed the greenwashing strategies of various organizations and products like Fly Ash bricks, Chevron Co., Biofuels etc., and its adverse effects on the environment. The phenomenon of ‘Climate Capitalism’ and ‘Greenwash’ in various industries are growing, which drastically affect not only the entire society but the climate as well in a vicious cycle. Through an analysis of the policies and guidelines by National mission for sustainable habitat, ECBC, smart city mission at a national level and the building Page 16

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bye-laws, National Building Code, Master Plan for Delhi-2021 at a city level (Delhi NCR), we came to the conclusion that a thorough framework for curbing greenwash was lacking in the building guidelines/byelaws.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research has been supported by the School of Planning & Architecture, Delhi.

We wish to express our sincere gratitude to Ar. Gaurav Shorey for his invaluable guidance and constructive suggestions during the development of this research work. His insight and expertise have greatly assisted with the research.

We would also like to express our deep appreciation for Dr. Leon A. Morenas, for providing us with the opportunity to embark on this research and for his guidance. We also thank Ar. Priyanka Kochhar, Ar. Raja Singh, Ar. Niyati Gupta for their invaluable comments and assistance during the course of this research.

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APPENDIX A- INTERVIEW WITH Ar. PRIYANKA KOCHHAR, Ar. RAJA SINGH Ar. Priyanka Kochhar- PK; Ar. Raja SinghRS; Gayatri Jain- GJ; Lakshmi B.- LB; Palak Verma- PV; Rohin Sikka- RSK; Sai Manaswini- SM; Vibhuti Kathpalia- VK. [exchange of pleasantries & verbal consent] [00.00] SM: So, starting off with our first question, are you aware of any greenwash prevalent in the construction industry in Delhi specifically?

PK: So, have you seen the CBI building?

That’s a rated building. You can drive past it if you have time, it’s in the CGO complex.

That is a Green building and it has very poor ventilation. Just look at it, you will know.

And if you go speak to the occupants, they are not comfortable. So, all the parameters that they claim to be meeting may not be met in that building.

SM: Is it a LEED rated or a GRIHA rated building?

PK: Yeah and I’m the worst person to say that.

RSK: The very fact that it is rated, does that mean that there are problems with the rating itself, I mean have they falsified their goals and all to get the rating?

[01.04] PK: Nahi aisa nahi hai, aisa hota hai, aisa nahi hai ki aisa hota nahi hai, (No it’s not like that, this happens, it’s not like this does not happen) but in the rating there are like suppose 30 parameters that are getting evaluated. There are say 8 mandatory criteria that need to be followed. So, if energy for example is not mandatory, it is okay for the building to not meet energy, but score in water materials and other things. So, you can still get a score without addressing.

So that’s not really a problem with a rating system, but eventually if the building has a problem then we have a problem. So, most of these parameters are also looked at during the environmental clearance stages, but these are commitments. These are future commitments; nobody goes to validate them

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because there are not enough resources to do that.

[01:58] Greenwashing in Delhi, it’s a very tricky question. All these NBCC projects that are coming up, NBCC claims that all their buildings are green, but how many trees they’ve cut, you must have read about that so that’s not green by any means. Again, see you have to balance environmental sustainability with economic sustainability, so depending on what they’re constructing they will come up with a lot of residential development. People need houses, so that’s a balance you need to strike, whether you call that greenwashing or I don’t know, I’m not convinced myself if that’s greenwashing. How do you say if 5 trees should be preserved or 30 people should get a house, or they should be compensatory plantation somewhere else, uss mein se bhi kitne ped mar jaate hain, (in that also so many trees die) so how do you ensure sustainability, like those trees carry on?

[02:52] Similarly, the Mumbai metro that whole thing which is happening. Again, there are ways of justifying the benefits to every cost we pay, but I think ultimately it all comes down to the individual’s decision making, it falls on the architectural.

There are a lot of buildings that use efficient lighting, but their window design is so bad, just by virtue of that fenestration design, the occupants have to switch on the lights during the day. That is also greenwashing.

Efficient toh hai, (it is efficient) it’s like again that day I was saying you’re on a diet but you land up eating double the amount.

Toh kya faayeda (So, what is the point).

You’re eating low calorie food but you’re eating double the volume. The benefit is really lost.

[04.00] What else is greenwashing? You could use the fly ash example to some extent, but I don’t know a specific project where you highlight that.

SM: Maybe corporations? Like the AC companies or… like we looked into Lafarge, Page 21

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there is a greenwashing that is happening in it PK: Okay I’m not aware of it, tell me.

LB: So, I read this that it is the second worst company which has carbon dioxide emissions PK: In the cement sector or globally?

[04.58] LB: Globally, on a global level but in cement sector. But on their website, they have all these nice things which they are doing. Like in Bangladesh they were supposed to relocate a village for their plant and then they were doing things for the society, so they have this good image about them so it’s greenwashing by the lesser of the two evils I guess like there are 7 types of greenwashing, so it comes under one of these types.

PK: So another example that comes to mind is all these garment industries which are there in Bangladesh, so anything that has to do with textile manufacturing and apparel whatever this thing, they have a lot of water waste energy wastages, and they also have very poor labour conditions, not only in terms of the physical conditions that are provided but in terms of salary and all of that. So what they’ve started doing in a big way is getting their building certified because they have to prove to their buyers, most of their buyers are from Europe or the US, India also, and they have to prove to them that they have… so these countries, in European businessmen and the US people, they have made ESG commitments, Environmental Sustainability Guidelines, to meet those commitments they have to make sure that the supply chains are green and they follow certain guidelines, so to meet those guidelines these guys certify their buildings.

[06.33] (To Raja Singh) They are asking for an example of greenwashing in Delhi. Say? RS: Greenwashing in Delhi…

GJ: It’ll be better if it’s specific to construction industryPK: -yeah, construction industry.

RS: Yeah, I got it. SPA? Seminar 2019 - Group 8

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PK: How? RS: It looks green, it’s surrounded by trees, but it’s not green.

[07.02] PK: Who said?

RS: It’s green? Who says? [laughter] PK: You can keep arguing about that, but I think just the fact that we can sit outside like this and enjoy the weather is amazing, you can’t do that in any…

RS: But why I’m pointing out to that is soon we are going to have a full AC building, Professor Mandeep has taken that proposal forward, when that happens it’s going to be a sealed building.

PK: AC building doesn’t mean a sealed building, I don’t know, I don’t mind sitting in an AC actually, itni garmi hoti hai (it is usually so hot).

GJ: It gets really hot during the summers, it’s uncomfortable, we can’t even study.

PK: Abhi jo inki air conditioning hai uss se toh better hi hoga (It will be better than their current air conditioning).

RS: Oh absolutely. It’ll have pressure, because right now there is no pressure.

PK: [joking] Jaise aap apne kamre mein baithte ho, khidki bhi khol lo AC bhi chala lo, (Like you sit in your room with the window also open and the AC also switched on), that is greenwashing actually, that is the example of greenwashing, but he says he needs fresh air, otherwise he’ll die. [laughter] [08.05] RS: Any other building in Delhi which is greenwashing…

PK: I think the CBI building? Though it’s LEED certifiedRS: -yes PK: I think that is greenwashing. A lot of these projects that are now getting penalised, these private projects, they’ve all received their environmental clearances and they were good to go, ab sab ek ek kar ke jail mein ja rahe hain (now they are all one by one going to jail). Somebody’s not meeting their waste guidelines, somebody is cutting trees, so all those projects, if you just do a Google on Economic Times, you’ll get a list Page 22

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of projects and people who are going to jail because of this. I think that would all qualify as greenwashing.

RS: Have you told them about the glass industry and how that is influencing the green industry, that’s what /you told me PK: /I’ve told them the air conditioning industry, tell glass industry…

RS: Because their topic seems to be capitalising ‘off’ climate change which basically that day you were telling mePK: -I was telling you?

RS: You were telling me that it’s the glass people who push for more green in buildings. So that’s a perfect example that you can be using.

[09.08] PK: So, glass is pushing, cement is pushing, air conditioning is pushing, lighting is pushing, all these are very big ‘cartels’, if I can use that word, but they are very strong industry lobbies and they are pushing their products in the light of sustainability. So, “use my double glazing, use my /5-star airconditioning” RS: / “mine is cleaner than yours” PK: “5-star labelled”, but a project.

RS: That day you were telling me that there are two kinds of schools of thought in green.

One is the ___________ type of people who want to do something which you think is not viable and the other is industry backed, like the ones we’re trying to sell the…[09.58] RS: When I say ___________ I mean all the people who make buildings at a lower scale and who think that that is the way forward because tall buildings, huge complexes cannot be made that way.

PK: I meant stabilised earth blocks, not ___________. [laughter] PK: There’s an upper limit to how much you can construct with mud, right. Ab tumhe chahiye 10 floor ki building toh kaise banaoge. But agar bann jaayegi woh greenwashing nahi hogi, (Now if you want a 10-floor building, then how will you build it. But if it gets constructed, then that won’t be greenwashing), that is to meet your own

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needs, the occupant need that is there. What was the other question you had?

RS: Before you ask the question, I can also mention that so the new rating system that has come, GEM, is backed by Assocham.

And if you look at the members of Assocham, you’ll understand who is promoting a new rating system and why in the first place, when you have IGBC, when you have GRIHA, when you have LEED, you need another rating system.

[11.09] That’ll answer your question ki (that) why are people capitalising off climate change.

Because this concept sells very well, that everybody wants a green building, and they think why let take anybody else take the profit, let’s create our own profit. So basically, a lot of these buildings made by these members who have created the GEM rating system of Assocham, they will get their buildings rated at a cheaper price because they are ‘members’ institutional founder members so they will get a discounted rating, they will get a discounted consultancy and they will vouch for, because they have created a neutral body, GEM is a neutral body, they’ll try to push the government, try to get all the incentives that GRIHA otherwise gets. What are the incentives? Extra FAR, extra ground coverage, just because your building is a 5star, 3-star, 4-star rated building.

[12.04] VK: And that can be manipulated because you’re setting the rules of what is viable RS: -so you are the player and you are the regulator, then who is there to check you.

Right now, there is no centralised agency in the government of India which is saying that, which actually regulates the green in India. I wrote an RTI application, filed it with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and one more, asked them what is India’s national rating system. Is GRIHA the national rating system of India? They said no. GRIHA is not the national rating system of India. Yet GRIHA puts the logo of MNRE because their initial MOU that they

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had for some years had some kind of a collaboration with MNRE. PK: When did you put this RTI? RS: In 2016. I will /show you a copy.

PK: /Because I was the one who used to answer all these RTI’s on behalf of (inaudible- 12.57) [laughter] So I was like okay, this is where it came from.

[13.00] No but this is one point of viewRS: -you answered that one?

PK: No, this one I didn’t answer, but it was my work to answer the RTI’s.

RS: So, the good thing is that I sent this one from a Tamil Nadu address so you couldn’t find it. [joking] Now I won’t do it.

PK: Nahi kabhi toh pata hi nahi chalta hai na kis se aayi hai, kya aayi hai, kisse kitna kitna data chahiye hota tha, number crunching kar ke dete the. (No sometimes we wouldn’t even get to know from whom the RTI came, what has come, who needs how much data, we would do number crunching and give). But one second, I don’t agree with everything that you’ve said, that is one point of view and even with Assocham, before you include all these things as part of a seminar that SPA is producing, then if you have time I would suggest you speak to people in Assocham, because I have spoken to them and I asked them the same question, “Why did you come up with another rating system? There are so many already”. So, the government’s view why they have not endorsed GRIHA, of course initially they had funded and all of that, but government’s view is more the merrier. If there are more rating systems, there will be more competition, and projects will be pushing the performance bar. Toh kuchh aasaan projects ek tarah ka rating system karte hain, jisko credibility aur robustness of implementation dikhana hai who ek tarah ke system karte hain. Toh government ka yeh vichaar tha. (So, some easy projects use one type of rating system, someone who needs to show credibility and robustness of implementation use another type. So, the government had this idea in mind).

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[14.04] Plus, MNRE cannot endorse it, it’s supposed to be under UD- Urban Development. But unfortunately, UD, the way it is structured, it is only able to look at water, waste and sanitation management.

Otherwise buildings as a subject goes to state and the municipality level. So, nobody at the centre is ready to acknowledge or back a rating system that is one, so I don’t think that is relevant for their seminar. But as far as Assocham is concerned, there the reason they came up with a rating system is because they think some other rating systems are just… those buildings are greenwashed. So, they want to set a credible standard. I don’t know how they plan to do it because it’s really easy, like it’s even easier than the easiest rating system. But yeah, underlying thing is that business will happen.

[14.57] RS: So, when you said that, I would like to contribute that we are in a socialist based model, which is going towards capitalism.

When I say that, in our model, our parents studied so that they could get a job. And the job was so that they can serve the country.

Now the idea is that when that comes into matter, the state or the country is seen as a regulator which takes care of the well-being of the people. Understood? So in that case, if the government is not endorsing a rating system, or they’re letting so many rating systems come up by private players, which the government is giving incentives of, then I want you to think, and not believe me, but think about whether there is something fishy or not. Because you must have a counterview of what’s going on today.

[16.03] PK: It’ll also be useful to enquire how many people are availing those incentives. In North India, there are a lot of incentives but a very few people are actually availing them.

RS: Absolutely.

RSK: Incentives for if you’re building /green buildings and all.

PK: /green buildings. Achha Noida mein yeh log bohot karte hain. Jaise koi ek residential development aa rahi hai, uss mein (Okay so Page 24

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this happens a lot on Noida. For example, a residential development is coming, in that) they will take the extra FAR. So basically, what happens is, the logic for the government to give the extra FAR is if you are incurring extra costs, by selling more you’ll be able to recoup that money. But what these people land up doing, they get their drawings approved as per the additional FAR, they sell the additional FAR, and finally they don’t the building rated for XYZ reasons. Either technically they are not able to meet the rating requirements on site. Many times, the final rating is also linked to a post occupancy audit, so it’s not always ki woh chori kar rahe hain (that they are stealing), but woh audit hoga jab (the audit will happen when) 80% of the residential apartments are occupied.

[17.02] So, if they’re not able to sell the apartments or rent it out, that final audit will not happen vis-à-vis the final rating will not come, visà-vis the extra FAR that they have used will be illegal. Kyunki ab woh todhenge toh nahi, bas unko fine lagta jaayega lagta jaayega, so again, iske bhi dono paksh hain.

Developers kehte hain ki government ne hume… rating agency ka rating system bekaar hai, aur government ne hume phasa kar rakha hai. Humne jo karna tha kar liya, aur ghar nahi bik rahe. (Because now they won’t demolish the structure, they will just keep getting fined, so again, there are two sides to it. The developers say that the rating systems are useless, and the government has trapped us. We did what we could, no more houses are getting sold). That is their main point. The government will say ki yeh log comply nahi kar rahe and wahi jhooth bol rahe hain (these people are not complying and they are the ones who are lying). So, your argument has to be very balanced, and before taking any one side, make sure you’ve heard the other out, and come up with your own assessment on what you think, where you think things are, greenwashing is happening. Of course, it happens, but there is- I’m just bringing to Seminar 2019 - Group 8

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light the counterview that exists also. Aisa hota hai, bohot hota hai, but uska kaaran bhi hai ke kyun hota hai. (This does happen, it happens a lot, but there is also a reason for why it happens).

[17.58] RS: And I’d also like to add to this, there was a case where one developer built a society, he put water heating systems, and as soon as he got the rating, he sold the system to the neighbouring society which used it for their rating. So, the whole 5 or 2 or 3 or whatever societies bought just one geyser, I mean solar geyserPK: -one set RS: Yes, and kept rotating it. And nobody actually used it. And I also want to say one thing which is going to be from what my topic of PhD is. Even though I am an uninvited guest to this thing, and I’m probably an interruption, I would still like to say because after the 1973 oil embargo, before that there was no such thing as energy efficiency, ‘as such’, only after the 1973 oil embargo, when USA thought that energy is going to be expensive, and I’m not talking about India, I’m saying USA thought energy is going to be expensive, then the research started to be in the area of /energy efficiency.

GJ: /alternate fuels.

[19.02] RS: So, energy efficiency ke wajah se (because of energy efficiency) there have been so many consequences which are negative. One of the major consequences of energy efficiency has been ‘Sick Building Syndrome”. There’s direct evidence. This is not what I’m saying as my whim and fancy.

There are research papers which show that.

So, this is one particular example that how just because it was driven by money, a new phenomenon was born, like phoenix was created out of something, same way this new phenomenon was born, and that had impact on other things. One of the other things was Sick Building Syndrome. So thenPK: Sorry, I’m just responding to this. In your paper it is written ‘climate change leads to human evolution’. Yeh waise waali kuchh Page 25

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baat hai (This is something like that). I don’t agree that energy efficiency is not goodRS: -yeah, it’s an[20.06] PK: -it’s okay, we can disagree, but that’s where we are. Because climate change nahi hoga toh humans evolve nahi honge, woh bhi theek hai (Because if climate change does not happen then humans won’t evolve, that’s also fine), that’s a point of view.

GJ: Because you won’t look for newer things orPK: -no no no, there’ll be so much destruction, so glaciers will melt, sea levels will rise, all these people who live on the coastal area, the fishermen, the shops that they have, sab doob jaayega toh marr jaayenge na? (If everything drowns, then everyone will die, right?) Toh (So) survival of the fittest. Jo nahi survive kiya woh marr jaayega. (The one who does not survive, will die). So same thing is happening with the wildlife also. Because the climate is changing, the species of mosquitoes are now moving to cooler regions, because it’s getting warmer here. So, the original species of the mosquito which resided in the equatorial region, woh toh marr gaya na. (that species died). Toh ab jo thand mein rehne ko seekh gaya (So now who learnt to live in the cold), that’s a new evolution of the same species. Same thing will happen to human beings also. So, two different points of view. /So just be careful[21.03] GJ: /no I don’t think woh thand mein rehna seekh gaye (I don’t think they learnt to live in the cold), they’re just migrating to places because of global warmingPK: Who is migrating? The people?

GJ: No, the mosquitoes because of global warming because places are heating up more, so they can’t stay in that much heat also, they need their particular temperature range and that’s why they’re moving upwards, /moving to colder places PK: /so they are adapting to, their ecosystem is changing noGJ: -their ecosystem is changing yeah

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PK: Everything is changing. So, yeah. So, these earthquakes happen, these natural disasters happen, people will die. And increasingly and unfortunately, the disparity between the rich and the poor is increasing.

So, poor people are worst impacted by climate change. So, the rich people will keep finding places to go, higher places to live, or say insulated buildings or projects or whatever.

[22.04] So, the poor people will suffer, and they don’t have the survival silks, so they die, but yeh sustainable nahi hai (this is not sustainable). Yeh soch hi ke saath mai agree nahi karti hoon ke climate change human evolution ke liye hai. Jo woh human evolution ho raha hai who toh hota rahega.

(I don’t agree with this ideology that climate change is for human evolution. The human evolution that is happening will continue to happen).

SM: No that is not actually what we meant.

We were talking aboutPK: -you’ve just mentioned the literature, but you’ve not shared your views on it SM: No, we were basically talking about how climate change – human evolution happened because of climate change in the past. We were not actually talking about the current situation.

PK: Achha (Okay). Yeh maine padha nahi hai (I haven’t read this) how human evolution is linked to climate change.

GJ: It’s in that book ‘Origins’LB: -by Lewis Darton, so he talks about how the previous cataclysmic events which happenedRS: -Ice Age ke time par hua tha, yeh hua tha (It happened during Ice Age)LB: -yeah how has that led to human evolution.

[22.51] RS: But according to those projections, that is what the IPCC predicted, because IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, also knew about Ice Age, also knew about carbon dioxide, pehle toh blast hue the (first blasts happened), carbon dioxide hua tha (carbon dioxide happened), ek blanket Page 26

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bana tha (a blanket was formed), greenhouse effect hua tha (greenhouse effect happened) based on those patterns they also projected something, but the way we are trying to put carbon dioxide into the air is way above those predictions. So definitely there’s an increase in carbon dioxide, that’s why people got Nobel Prizes.

That is not untrue. But what I’m saying is trying to cope with that, probably the way we’re doing it that put glass put this that is also driven by money, is what I’m trying to say. Climate change is there, but the answer to climate change is what Gaurav Shorey does. Swaraj. Have you attended Swaraj? = VK: = Yeah [23.52] RS: But probably that’s one of the answers that we can do, rather than selling better windows. That is what you have to discuss and debate on. That is what, where the masala lies. Rather than trying to disprove climate change which has been nicely studied. You should work on the solution part to it, rather than the “bhai hum fundamental research karenge ki climate change hi galat hai” (“we will do a fundamental research that climate change is wrong”).

GJ: No no, we can’t give a solution, /we aren’t supposed to.

RS: /No I’m saying what people already are giving the solution to this climate change problem /that you have to GJ: /look that up and research.

RS: How capitalist that is. That is where the seminar topic lies.

GJ: Yeah agreed.

RS: Because that is definitely driven by economy, economists. The choices that we have today of building materials is totally driven by what the companies want to sell us. You cannot buy. All of us have studied ek semester mein (in one semester) alternate building materials? Uss mein woh hota than na woh ‘precast’ samaan? (In that there were precast things, remember?)

[25.00] Tell me where you can buy precast samaan (things) if I want to build my house. Can you Seminar 2019 - Group 8

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buy precast? You only buy bricks, cement, rhodi (aggregate), reta (sand). Four things available in the normal market. You cannot buy pre-cast samaan (things). Because availability nahi hai (availability is not there). Because uss mein profit nahi hai (Because there is no profit in it) is what I’m trying to say. I’m not saying climate change is wrong, I’m not saying ki glass na lagao (that don’t put glass). I’m saying that look at how that is at the end of the day affecting the money. Kabhi aapne ghar banana hai toh try kiya? (Have you ever tried to build a house?) You see 100 gaj ka ghar banane mein kitna paisa lagta hai. (how much money it takes to build a house of 100 square yards). You’ll be amazed to know what is the cost of uss mein cement (cement in that), what is the cost of uss mein sheesha (glass in that), what is the cost of steel in that.

PK: What is the next question?

[25.52 – 27.28 side conversation] SM: So how is the current air pollution of Delhi and the greenwashing that we’ve discussed related? Do you think there is a relation and that this greenwashing is / (inaudible 27.42)?

PK: /So the question could be is odd-even greenwashing? Or are these tree washing activities greenwashing? Haina? Yehi hai na? (Right? It’s this only?)

SM: We were actually thinking of maybe the cause of the air pollution? So, the construction industry is alsoVK: -one of the major contributors like be it construction dust[28.02] PK: Minor hai, construction and transport minor hai. (It is minor, construction and transport are minor) RS: Main is Punjab, Punjab problem, that’s because of over evapotranspiration, they delayed the sowing season of rice from midMay-June to July-August. Because at that time the humidity is already high so there’s less loss of water from the plants, the small saplings you put of rice. And that also legislation. So, they delayed the sowing time, and that delayed the reaping time. And reaping time coincided with the time whenPage 27

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so if you do something in this time, even if you light a normal fire here, it will cause smog here. Because that time is so crucial.

Just onset of winters, that is a time when smog naturally happens in this region, and then plus on that you put Punjab’s Haryana’s smoke, so it becomes intensified. That is a major cause.

[28.58] LB: Actually, the crop burning accounts to only 4% of the air pollution RS: No no, show me the source of this information. /I disagree with this information VK: /Maybe during the winters the crop burning would account for a larger proportion, but if we account for the entire year’s air pollutionRS: -yeah yeah entire year. I’m just talking about the time when odd-even was implemented. When the time Delhi always faces a problem.

PK: So, what’s the question? What’s the point?

RS: Ki (That) how is it linked, ma’am.

SM: How isPK: -greenwashing?

SM: Greenwashing and air pollution /linked PK: /No no, dekho construction rok di, woh jo power plant tha who band kar diya- (See they stopped construction, they shut down the power plant)RS: -odd-even kar diya (they implemented odd-even) PK: odd-even kar diya (they implemented odd-even), iss mein greenwashing kya hai (what is greenwashing in this)? Matlab (Though) I don’t again agree with odd-even, butSM: -no, now that we’ve discussed how greenwashing is happening in Delhi with the use of glass or the buildings that are getting falsely rated, we are trying to see if there is a link between this and the Delhi’s climate change. The air pollution that is happening.

[30.04] PK: Will you classify air pollution as climate change?

RS: Nahi hai. (It’s not).

SM, LB: Extreme weather conditions Seminar 2019 - Group 8

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PK: Extreme weather. [pause] I don’t know, climate change toh nahi hai yeh but kyun nahi hai? (It’s not climate change, but why is it not?)

VK: But is climate change only limited to the greenhouse effect?

GJ: Maybe not climate change, but it is an effect of climate change. Impact of climate change.

PK: Yeah so human induced… not climate change, it’s simple pollution. /Maine ek cheez ki, uss se pollution ho gayi. (I did one thing, as a result pollution happened).

RS: /Did you read yesterday’s newspaper?

Ma’am yesterday’s newspaper said that Delhi is getting this rain in the winters because of global climate change. That’s what yesterday’s newspaper /was saying.

[30.58] PK: /that can happen, which means so our summers are becoming more severe, our winters are becoming more severe, the precipitation patterns are changing, that is global climate change.

GJ: The rainfall in Delhi has decreased apparently, I was reading it yesterday.

PK: Yeah so there are some parts of India that are perpetually flooded. Some parts that are perpetually dry. Kahin par sookha pad raha hai, Maharashtra mein, aur yeh Orissa waali belt mein toh log marr rahe hain because of floods, (There are droughts in some places, like Maharashtra, while on the other hand, in Orissa, people are dying because of floods), so that is climate change.

But how is air pollution a result of climate change? I’m not sure of that, I don’t think it is. But the question could be rephrased to sayGJ: -air pollution might be an impact.

Because the winters are getting more severe, which means there will be more smog…

PK: Air pollution ho raha hai (is happening) because of burning of cropRSK: -and the crop pattern is changing becauseVK: -air pollution would also add to other chemicals in the airPK: -so one second, hold that thought, crop pattern has changed because of climate Page 28

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change, but air pollution is not caused because of climate change. Air pollution is caused because of human activities.

[32.03] GJ: It’s caused because of human activities, but the human activities are changing because of climate change.

PK: That’s very far-fetched. You’re right, but it’s far-fetched.

VK: Air pollution is basically contamination of the air; a lot of chemicals might be- I’m not sure about this one- but would be added in the air which probably aggravate the greenhouse effect.

PV: Yeah exactly.

PK: That is true, but it’s not linked to Delhi’s air pollution. Aisa hi hota hai greenhouse effect. (This is how greenhouse effect happens). Jo aap keh rahi ho woh theek hai, but woh Dilli mein implementable nahi hai. (What you are saying is correct, but it is not implementable in Delhi). This example is not suitable.

RS: Haan theek hai, yeh pata hai kya keh rahi hai? Yeh keh rahi hai ki aapne koyela jalaya powerplant mein. Uss se ek toh PM2.5 giri jis se Dilli mein pollution ho gaya, doosra CO se greenhouse effect ho gaya. Toh keh rahi hai ki- (Yes okay, you get what she is saying? She is saying that you burnt coal in the powerplant. From that, one product is PM2.5, which caused pollution in Delhi. The second is CO which caused greenhouse effect. So, she is saying) PK: -but uss se pollution nahi hua na- (-but that did not cause pollution-) RS: [crosstalk] do by-product hain na iske, ek toh energy hai, ek CO hai, ek PM2.5 hai.

Energy mil gayi, hum log khush ho gaye, light jal gayi. PM2.5 se Dilli mein pollution ho gayi, aur CO se aap keh rahe ho greenhouse effect- (there are two byproducts, one is energy, one is CO , and one is PM2.5. We got energy, we got happy, lights got lit. PM2.5 caused the pollution in Delhi, and CO you are saying caused greenhouse effect-) [33.04] 2

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PV: -greenhouse gases increase hui, uss se heat zyada trap hone lag gayi- (-greenhouse gases increased, that caused more heat to get trapped-) RS: -toh yeh thoda sa advance soch rahe hain- (-so they are thinking a little in advance-) PK: -advanceRS: -which is good!

PK: Yeah, okay…

RS: Because it is interrelated. It is definitely interrelated. So that we can link to -very nice- [laughter] that we can link to- India is importing coal from Australia, because their coal is cleaner coal. And that means that we are losing our foreign exchange. Then, ‘capitalising off climate change’. Who is capitalising off climate change? Australia.

By sellingPV: -greener coal. [laughter] RS: Greener coal, very good. But it is still coal! It still has CO ! But it’s producing less PM2.5. So just imagine, we are using ships to get coal, whereas India is a coal producing country.

PK: But our quality of coal is very poor, our quality of waste is very poor.

RS: And we can put a plant to make that coal into coke, but would not do that because we want Australia to be rich. [laughter] [34.00] And some Australian would come and sit on the head of the Secretary of Coal and try to lobby him in not putting the plant. Because he signs and the plant comes, but he will not let that happen. Because that is called ‘Import Lobby’. And import lobby is so huge in India. [pause] PK: What’s the next question?

[34.30-34.50 side conversation] SM: We could just… the role of construction industry in the current air pollution.

[34.56] PK: You can Google that, you’ll find more information on that. So, there are studies which have been done to say what percentage. Air pollution dekho jab construction chaalu hoti hai (see when 2

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construction begins), when you break ground, that is when the air pollution starts.

Actually, no. When you are operating emissions from your air-conditioning devices, emissions from urban heat island… bohot saara hai (there is a lot). You’ll find papers on this. I don’t have a number readyRS: -what is the question, ma’am?

PK: What’s the percentage of air pollution…

SM: What is the percentage of… role ofPK: -role of construction in air pollution.

RS: Role of construction in- so there are multiple views to it. One is the embodied energy of the material. So, you are buying steel, you are buying cement. That has embodied energy in it. That has an indirect contribution to the pollutionPK: -right, and all those manufacturing units are polluting one sourceRS: -in their own sweet way. Ma’am is doing her work in LCA. So, she’s perfect to tell you all that.

PK: [laughter] abhi nahi. Abhi toh shuru kiya hai na. (Not now. They have just started very recently). [laughter] RS: LCA, you know what is LCA? [36.00] VK: Life Cycle Assessment RS: Very good very good, amazing. So, there is one thing called embodied energy and all that, when the thing comes to your site. So, before that, a lot of harm to the environment has already happened. Lot of pollutionPK: -jaise agar brick banegi toh woh bhatti mein se kitna dhuaan nikalta hai. (-like if brick gets manufactured, then see the amount of smoke coming out of the furnace). So that is an impact of- indirect impact of construction.

VK: When I was reading about this, I had a small doubt. What is the difference between embodied energy and LCA? Or is Life Cycle Analysis a method to calculate embodied energy?

RS: Yeah PK: Not just embodied energy.

RS: Lot of other things.

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PK: It’s a very complicated thing in the sense thatRS: -embodied water alsoPK: So, there are many ways of doing LCA, okay. So basically, what you’re doing is you are creating an economic cycle, and you are assessing the impact of that cycle on the environment. So, for example, production of cement is a whole economic cycle in itself.

Right from the quarrying, the manufacturing, the transportation, packaging, and taking it to site. It is a whole cycle.

[37.03] RS: Cradle to grave process, ma’am will say that.

PK: Haan. Toh, jahan se woh material, construction material paida hua hai till itabhi toh cradle to cradle bhi ho gaya hai (Yes. So, where the construction material is created- now it is actually cradle to cradle) because recyclability has become a significant component. So LCA is a method to measure the environmental impact ofVK: -material PK: Yeah, I mean right from the silicon used. Chhote se chhota material. Abhi tak building ka poora kisi ne kiya nahi hai.

(From the smallest material. Till now, no one has analysed an entire building). So, rating systems provide one methodology to do an LCA. To which Environmental Product Declaration is very important. So, suppose, if I’m using glass in my building, I need to know what is the EPD of this glass.

Isko banane mein (In making this), what is the embodied energy that has gone into it which will be very location specific, site specific.

[37.57] Because, if you are manufacturing glass in Italy and you are using it there, the embodied energy is different, vis-à-vis importing that same glass to India and using it in Delhi or using it in Nagaland somewhere. So, yeah, that’s a very big question, I don’t have a short answer to that but there’s a lot of stuff you can read on it.

So, rating systems are the most practical

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ways- provide the most practical ways to assess the LCA. RS: And there is IIT Madras professor, whose paper GRIHA uses to calculate embodied energy in buildings, ki brick mein kitni hoti hai, cement mein kitni hoti hai, concrete mein per metre cube kitni hoti hai. (that how much is in brick, how much is in cement, how much is in concrete per metre cube). That paper is available, you can see GRIHA’s guidelines, embodied energy with our criteria.

[38.58] VK: One of the drawbacks of either GRIHA or LEED, I don’t remember, they had said that whatever energy they basically decide for one of the materials, so once the material comes onto site, be it brick, cement, concrete, in LEED and GRIHA rating systems, they account it for the same. They account for its energy from starting point at site and they do not account for how the material has reached onto the site.

PK: Woh theek hai… (That is okay…) I agree and acknowledge that it is a disadvantage, but abhi tak embodied energy calculate karne ke liye India uss level of research par pohoncha hi nahi hai, woh figures hi nahi hain. (till now India has not reached the level to calculate that embodied energy, we don’t have those figures). The other alternative was… because we were working on this together, Gaurav and all, University of Bath has published these figures. Toh yeh kahin published information nahi hai. (So, this information is not published anywhere).

RS: Ma’am woh paper mein hai thoda sa.

(Ma’am a little is there in the paper).

PK: India ke liye? (For India?)

RS: Haan haan India ke liye. GRIHA mein bada purana hai, bada clearly harr cheez ka diya hua hai. (Yes, for India. It is given very clearly for everything in GRIHA from a long time).

PK: Mai dekhti hoon (I will look into it). So, one is there is lack of data availability. The second is there are very few materials available that have declared their environmental performance.

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[40.04] Which means you can either shrink that market that suppose Saint-Gobain has declared, AIS has declared, and one more glass has declared, and there are some local glass manufacturers who have not declared.

So, then the other argument here is that the rating systems are pushing three manufacturers who are declaring and have a very high embodied energy. Baaki glass ki toh mujhe embodied energy pata hi nahi hai na toh mai kaise karungi (Though even I don’t know the embodied energy of glass, so how will I do it). So, the school of thought, the line of thinking which is used when devising the rating systems is to get as many people in the fold as possible. So instead of recommending things that are not commonly available, because that will result in a monopoly, the idea is that those who are not doing anything should do something. So yes, I agree that is a critique of the rating system, but there are market forces at play.

So, when it is commonly available, I’m sure this will become mainstream.

[41.04] Another thing is rating systems can be just classified as a market mechanism to achieve something. But there are policies, there are bye-laws, there are 30 things that the government can also do to ensure all this gets implemented. So, it’s not always one or the other, there are lots of things at play. The government is doing its own thing, the rating systems are doing its own thing, the material manufacturers are doing their own thing, they also have very strong lobbies. Toh woh hi agar CPWD specifications mein insert kara dein ki harr product ko apna EPD declare karna hai, automatically market change ho jaayegi na. Building hi banna band ho jaayegi jab tak aap yeh cheez nahi karogi. Toh iss mein time lagta hai. Time matlab 10-15 saal toh aise hi chale jaate hain. (So, if they get this inserted in the CPWD specifications that every group has to declare their EPD, the market will change automatically. Buildings won’t get constructed till the time this is not done. So,

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SPA- Delhi, Dec 2-4, 2019, New Delhi, India

this takes time. By time I mean that 10-15 years go in this itself).

[41.57-42.12 side conversation] Yeah, I think there are always two points to the same thing, aap ka kya point of view hai (what is your point of view), that will be critical. What you think. Which is another reason why I have consciously put both sides to you, like there is nothing dark green or yeh sustainable hai aur yeh sustainable nahi hai (this is sustainable and this is not) but your take on whatever you’ve learnt or whatever you’ve heard, whatever you’ve read, that is what is important to this seminar.

Seminar 2019 - Group 8

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