Sustainable Green Practices promoted by Qatar

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While Qatar races to reach its target of completed development in terms of infrastructure by the year 2020, there is also a conscious side that is emerging which focusses on the impact of the environment from these developments. Qatar Foundation has set its focus on not just creating a developed nation but also a sustainable and green nation. Qatar wants to be viewed as a nation that respects its environment and is aware of the challenges of sustainable development. This year a Qatar Green Building Conference was organised in Doha which was attended by more than 500 leading local and international green buildings experts, researchers, academics and sustainability activists.

The Gulf Times quoted Mr Issa al-Mohannadi, chairperson of QGBC and Qatar Tourism Authority, who said: “Qatar Green Building Council is taking a balanced approach to addressing sustainability challenges in the country. We believe that a combination of research and innovation, education and awareness, and building cohesive networks of stakeholders, is key towards achieving environmental sustainability on a national and a regional level. The Qatar Green Building Conference has indeed created a platform for the green building industry to make this possible collectively.”

The major areas that this conference addressed were retrofitting Doha’s existing building stock, measuring carbon footprint and future sustainable cities. Qatar’s first Passivhaus experiment, which aims to reduce energy consumption by half and currently going through its research phase, is a breakthrough in the country’s green buildings industry was also showcased at this conference. At this conference the Qatar Green Directory was launched which features a comprehensive search engine and database providing information and analysis about existing and new green building products and services provided in Qatar and the region.

The Middle East is leading the way and playing by example when it comes to sustainable development. The luxury malls, the high end hotels and the many luxuries that are enjoyed by the people and supported by the governments are all created with sustainability in mind. There are hundreds of building in the Middle East which meet the LEED certification norms. They are built to meet environmental guidelines and standards and are created in such a way that they is also a micro-climate that is created in these building clusters. Governments from all the Middle Eastern nations have made a commitment to award more projects to developers who are creating their masterpieces using sustainable development methods.

This is a new and innovative step towards creating a responsible and sustainable nation that focusses on development along with protecting the environment. The QGBC is a step towards changing Qatar from a hydrocarbon dependent nation to a society that is progressive and knowledge driven.