Nairobi has played host to an inaugural conference seeking to unlock financing for green affordable housing in the East Africa region.
The conference dubbed “A Call to Action: Unlocking Financing Opportunities for green affordable housing for the Kenyan Market”, attracted stakeholders from across the continent.
The Kenya Green Building Society – a membership-based society formed to advocate for green building- in partnership with Reall- an investor and innovator in affordable housing in Africa and Asia organized the event.
Participants included the International Finance Corporation, Centre for Affordable Housing, Reall, the Architectural Association of Kenya, Kenya Property Developers Association, and Kenya Bankers Association among others.
The green affordable housing market globally, is beginning to attract and gain attention for its critical role in addressing climate change.
A green home is a type of house designed to be environmentally sustainable. Green homes focus on the efficient use of “energy, water, and building materials”.
A green home may use sustainably sourced, environmentally friendly, and/or recycled building materials.
It may include sustainable energy sources such as solar or geothermal, and be sited to take maximum advantage of natural features such as sunlight and tree cover to improve energy efficiency.
Speaking at the workshop KGBS CEO Nasra Nanda applauded the move to have the workshop saying it will help to build a road map for green affordable housing in the region whether private or public sector-led.
“Kenya has shown commitment and is a leader in decarbonizing the built environment,” she said.
The workshop focused on unlocking local lending for green-certified affordable housing construction.
Reall Governance and External Affairs Director Lucy Livesley said there is a growing volume of climate finance globally, currently underutilized.
The workshop was seen as vital towards mobilizing sustainable finance and fostering partnerships for green affordable housing.
Players in the built environment contributed towards unlocking opportunities with a clear road map in the next steps to enable implementation.
Green affordable housing is a key route to both climate mitigation, through reducing emissions.
Buildings are major emitters of other non-CO2 greenhouse emissions such as halocarbons.
Greenhouse gas emissions from buildings primarily arise from their consumption of fossil-fuel-based energy, both through the direct use of fossil fuels and through the use of electricity which has been generated from fossil fuels.
