Jitendra Singh urges industry, academia to find solutions that adapt to India's climatic zones

Union minister Jitendra Singh has urged real estate developers, builders, industry, and academia to find innovative and affordable solutions that adapt to India's climatic zones and unique needs, address extreme weather events, and reduce risk to lives and property. Speaking at an event of Solar Decathlon India, the minister of State for Science and Technology noted that public-private partnerships will accelerate the adoption of new technologies in the building sector, make India a global leader, and contribute to India's 'Panchamrit' promise.

Solar Decathlon India is an annual challenge for undergraduate and postgraduate students from Indian colleges and universities to address climate change by developing innovative, net-zero energy and climate-resilient solutions for the building sector in India.

He also urged real estate developers, builders, industry, and academia to find innovative, affordable solutions that adapt to India's climatic zones and unique needs, address extreme weather events, and reduce risk to lives and property. In his address, he described India's ambitious plan to address climate change, one of the biggest challenges facing the global community. He described the 'Panchamrit' climate action agenda presented by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi at the COP26 meeting that sets a target for net-zero emissions by 2070. With the construction and building sector contributing to 38 percent of the global CO2 emissions and the rapid growth of new construction in India, he noted that leveraging new technologies and using local, sustainable building materials can help make 70 percent of our buildings net-zero.