The Ministry of Urban Development and Housing of Sri Lanka, in collaboration with the GlobalABC, UNEP, UN-Habitat, UNOPS, One Planet Network SBC Programme and WWF, launched the Sri Lanka Sustainable Housing and Construction Roadmap 2020-2050 following the GlobalABC buildings and construction roadmap model and as part of the United Nations Joint Programme on Resource Efficient Housing !

Project overview

The United Nations Joint Programme on Resource Efficient Housing is led by UN-Habitat in partnership with UNEP and UNOPS, and in support of the goals of the One Planet Network Sustainable Buildings and Construction (SBC) Programme. The overall aim of the joint programme is “Promoting a common approach to supporting countries in leveraging their buildings and construction sector to achieve the SDGs”. The project outputs will 1) provide strategic support to the United Nations Country Teams to help countries in improving the sustainability of buildings and their impact on the environment, in particular on carbon emissions, 2) support governments in transforming their buildings and construction sector to be a resource efficient, low carbon and climate resilient sector, through coherent policy support and results-focused programming based on science and facts.

The programme was piloted in Sri Lanka and Burkina Faso for 2021/2022. The Sustainable Building Country Assessment is the first output of the project, which was followed by the Sri Lanka Roadmap for Sustainable Housing and Construction. The outputs are delivered in a participatory manner with inputs and validation of key stakeholders in the housing, building and construction industry of Sri Lanka

The roadmap

This report presents the findings of the Sustainable Building Construction Country Assessment for Sri Lanka (SBC-CA) and a Roadmap for Sustainable Housing and Construction and achieving NDCs in the construction industry in Sri Lanka. It examines the current status, and potential opportunities and challenges for adopting Sustainable Building Construction (SBC) practices and policies. The Country Assessment and the Roadmap are structured on the approach laid out by the GlobalABC Global Roadmap for Buildings and Construction 2020-2050, where 8 Action Areas have been identified for the transition towards sustainability in the Construction Sector:

1. Urban planning
2. New Buildings
3. Existing Buildings
4. Building Operations
5. Appliances and Systems
6. Materials
7. Resilience
8. Clean Energy

The Roadmap outlines recommendations to be implemented in each of these broad areas of action together with overarching policy recommendations. The methodology of conducting the Country Assessment was based on the Resource Efficiency Country Construction Assessment Tool (RE-CCAT).

The report is organised into three parts:

• The first part provides an overview of the country's construction industry, the housing sector, environmental management and the vision for climate resilience
• The second part gives the context and the way forward for the eight Action Areas identified for the transition towards sustainable buildings and construction
• The third part presents cross-cutting challenges and enablers identified in the study, provides conclusions and overarching policy recommendations and the Roadmap for sustainable buildings and construction towards 2050.