In keeping with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda, Chennai’s Egmore metro underground station was awarded the prestigious platinum rating by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), as reported by Times Of India (TOI).

The honour was conferred on CMRL (Chennai Metro Rail Limited) by the Minister of Housing Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri on the sidelines of 16th Green Building Congress 2018 held in Hyderabad.

ICBC, which functions under the industry body, CII (Confederate of Indian Industry) was formed in 2001 to enable India to be one of the global leaders in the sustainable built environment by 2025. It awards four levels of certification to new buildings, with platinum being the highest. The buildings are judged on seven different sustainable criteria like water conservation, energy efficiency, indoor environment quality etc.

The 18th Congress also witnessed the launch of India’s first Green Building Rating System for Net Zero Energy Buildings. This represents the first step towards the construction of Net Zero (in terms of energy, water and waste) building in the country.

Green buildings are a crucial component of many of the goals identified in the SDG agenda like Goal 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), Goal 13 (climate change) etc. These 17 goals are expected to be achieved by counties like India by 2030.