The quest for alternative models of sustainable growth to address the global challenges of natural resource depletion and mitigating carbon emissions has led to the evolution of new green products and services. Routing investments in green technologies and business models can bring out innovative products that can revolutionise many sectors of the industry, mainly, the ones that are most resource and energy intensive like the construction sector.

This is one of the fastest growing sectors in India today. It is solely responsible for emitting about 22 per cent of India’s total annual CO2 emissions. It’s impact on resources is set to increase further due to the rapid economic growth in India, driven by increasing population, rising income levels, increasing urbanisation rates along with the rise in per capita consumption of materials thereby adding immense pressure on the finite natural resources.

Currently, the per capita consumption of materials in India is around 1.5 tonnes, which is a remarkable fivefold increase since 1980 and if the trend continues, the construction sector will have the highest levels of material consumption in India within a decade (IGEP, 2013). The combined challenges of climate change and exploitation of natural resources urges us to deviate from the current path adopted by the sector and look for different options and alternate modes of economic growth that are most resource-efficient and which have the lowest environmental impact.

Approaches to Resource Efficiency

Resource efficiency (RE) can be simply defined as ‘creating more with less’. In broad terms, it is a way of delivering more with less resource inputs in a sustainable way thus minimising the impact on the environment. RE has always remained a priority in the policy agenda around the world as countries realise its significance for transitioning to a green economy.

Use of secondary raw materials is seen as a practical approach to achieving resource efficiency through decoupling of critical building materials. A secondary raw material can be anything ranging from waste from another industry or an alternate building material available in nature that could be substituted in place of a critical resource (e.g. sand, stone and gravel). Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste is one such secondary raw material which offers great recyclability potential for utilisation in various construction applications.

Focus on Non-Technological Developments

Current innovations fostering resource efficiency tend to focus primarily on technological advances and solely focusing on such technical developments will not make a greater impact. Non-technological drivers such as local capacity building and training have often played a prominent role in driving these innovations further while complementing these technological changes. For instance, diffusion of green technologies whether it be solar or biomass technologies, to regions could fail over time if local capacities were not developed for local manufacturing, repairing, operating and maintaining the facilities. Evidence from various sources suggests that successful technology development and diffusion have often emphasised the need to develop and strengthen local capacities.

Why is Investing in People Important?

The industrial shift to adopting resource efficiency brings out new opportunities for growth which demands new set of skills and failing to bridge the skills gap can seriously hamper the growth of the industry. Capacity building lays a solid foundation for effective and efficient functioning of activities. It is a broad term which encompasses a multitude of activities ranging from strengthening processes, systems and rules that influence collective and individual behaviour and performance to enhancing people’s technical ability and willingness to play new developmental roles and adapt to new demands and situations (UNEP, 2002).

Drivers of Skill Change

As economies go green, the need for skilled jobs arises. It is very important to understand the basic drivers of skill change to predict the future training needs and jobs (ILO, 2011). Major drivers of skill change identified by experts have been listed below.
• Changes in the physical environment
• Policies and regulation
• Technology and innovation
• Demand for greener products
These drivers of change are interlinked to each other and can be easily understood using a well-known assessment framework known as DPSIR (Kristensen P, 2004).

Figure 1 explains the components of the DPSIR (Driving Forces-Pressures-State-Impacts-Responses) framework in the context of capacity development for resource efficiency in the construction sector. A ‘driving force’ is basically a need such as a need for food, water, energy and housing. The human activities performed towards meeting these needs results in excessive use of natural resources which exerts ‘pressures’ on the environment causing different types of emissions to the air, water and soil. The changes in the physical, chemical or biological state of the environment may have environmental or economic ‘impacts’ on the functioning of ecosystems resulting in shifting from traditional production processes to innovative technological processes to avoid further damage to the ecosystem. The ‘impacts’ observed as a result of changes in the industrial systems demand changes in the economy, educational skills, training and other social aspects. This in turn demands a ‘response’ from society or policy makers.

Existing Policies and Initiatives

The amendment to the existing Municipal Waste Management Rules, 2015 is aimed at the proper streamlining of C&D waste management in India. Unlike the existing rules where no specific guidelines were given for the management of C&D Waste, the new version included the responsibilities and timelines for implementation for all stakeholders involved with the management of C&D Waste. Also, as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission in India, policy interventions have been initiated for C&D Waste management and recycling on a national scale.

These new rules set a benchmark for C&D waste management, but it is critical that capacity development is imparted to each stakeholder for proper implementation and monitoring of these rules.

Key Challenges

Major challenges in capacity development that were highlighted during the transition to resource efficiency in the construction sector are as follows:
• Ensuring the right supply of skilled technicians to take up resource efficient technologies remains a major challenge and acts as a roadblock towards the successful adoption of resource efficiency in the construction sector.
• Lack of awareness towards the utilisation of resource efficient materials is observed at all levels including professional sectors (architects, building material manufacturers etc). There is also limited availability of technology know-how.
• The demand for alternate building materials like fly ash bricks and aggregates from C&D waste is seriously hampered due to the lack of acceptance and perception of poor quality of users.
• The lack of favourable policies and cumbersome procedures to set up new enterprises affects the promotion and uptake of new technologies.

Key Actions and Recommendations

To create an enabling environment and encourage the industrial shift to adopting resource efficiency, the following set of actions have been recommended:
• Establishment of policies and practices to promote selective collection of waste that have higher recycling rates such as C&D waste can lead to swifter processes while ensuring constant supply of secondary raw materials for processing and use.
• Creating information hubs to learn and replicate resource efficiency can spread information on specific upcoming technologies in the sector and experiences of energy efficiency to the wider society.
• Facilitating capacity building in the private sector - The information campaigns targeted towards builders, architects and engineers will have major impact towards building resource efficient infrastructure and can also influence choices of companies and house owners.
• Since there is a lack of awareness towards adoption of resource efficient technologies and practices, capacity building efforts from local governments should not only focus on the municipal technical staff, but also on the other main actors that are involved in the local roll-out of resource efficiency.
• Capacity building for employers in the informal economy and micro and small enterprises to enter green markets in localities where they are most needed.
• Establishing a network of business development associates, equipment manufacturers and service providers and building their capacities for accelerated service delivery and demand creation.   q