Saudi Green Building Forum to turn new leaf in sustainability

Our prosperity and the planet’s future depend on how we treat our environment. It is a great concern that the greenhouse effects and climate-related effects will threaten our cities, societies and culture for generations to come.

Every July, massive consultations take place between member states and international governmental organizations of the United Nations to assure the ministerial declaration. This year it will conclude and be adopted on July 15.

Once again, UN secretariats of the High-Level Political Forum assigned to the Saudi Green Building Forum to call on champions to discuss the challenges of “Green Rebuild Better After the COVID-19 Pandemic” in efforts to move the construction sector from strength and resilience to capacity building.

The HLPF event aims to find ways to keep the construction sector free of emissions and efficient, flexible, integral and connected with nature. Social inclusion strengthens our community participation and showcases professional best practices for sustainable development goals.

No doubt, the step up ambition by accelerating action through measuring, reporting and verifying the objectives of mapping over 1,000 green projects, buildings, neighborhoods and cities with technology promoting green building concepts, methodologies and applications.

Aligning all local actions with integrated SDGs ensures local and national development plans are priorities of nationally determined contributions and long-term net-zero emission strategies by 2060.

The UN hosts the global agenda 2030 sessions in New York. The works set by the government are unprecedented, unique, powerful, and actionable for the SDG at the UN HLPF on SDG.

As chief representative of a nongovernmental organization, I find it an overwhelming and intense advocacy experience being part of the ever-changing event joined by influential groups and other stakeholders, mainly due to the diverse knowledge requested to overcome the challenges.

Additionally, it is enriching at the end of each July of the year to see not only conferencing but an action plan implementing national SDG.

Now, it is our fifth year at the HLPF 2022 session; our contribution is tpresent side events and position papers on the subjects at the UN Economic and Social Council.

Saudi Green Building Forum every year submits its position statement to the secretary-general of the UN, which is being circulated as per paragraphs 30 and 31 of Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31.

The Saudi Green Initiative and Green Middle East Initiative were unveiled by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, describing the program as a significant national and regional step toward protecting the environment and facing the challenges of climate change.

I am very delighted, proud and encouraged by the Kingdom’s interest, action and progress on environmental issues and the announcement that the largest oil exporter in the world will reach “zero net carbon” by the year 2060.

Moving forward, we propose that the expectations  of all scientific policy based recommendations must allow room for assisting NGOs, including UN agencies, to promote resource efficiency and reporting at the national level through innovative and profitable exchanges.

• Faisal Al-Fadl is founder of the Saudi Green Building Forum.