Accra, – As part of efforts to promote sustainable building practices, International Finance Corporation (IFC) has encouraged prospective commercial or residential property owners to adopt the Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies (EDGE) software for green building.
EDGE software can be used for free to design a resource-efficient commercial or residential building in more than 160 countries.
The software calculates the utility savings and reduced carbon footprint of the green building against a base case.
Mr Dennis Papa Odenyi Quansah, IFC’s EDGE Green Building Lead for Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria, said with the software the individual could look at the cost-effective way in the construction process.
Mr Quansah was speaking at a workshop to educate the constituent of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) on the EDGE Software.
He said IFC was committed to providing the Fund with an education session on the principles and applications of the EDGE software, standards and certification system.
The EDGE Green Building Lead said IFC had a four-part strategy to support green building growth, where EDGE unlocks collaboration and provides a new paradigm shift.
He said it would help increase the capacity rate, brand equity with growing evidence that EDGE certification resulted in greater profitability.
“With EDGE, it gives you brand visibility, customer satisfaction and award recognition,” he added.
Mr Quansah said IFC was working with the government to ensure that the agenda 111 Hospitals were all certified green.
He said as part of the engagements, IFC had been talking with the financial institutions to develop green bonds and green mortgages for their customers, while they also engaged with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the modalities.
He said EDGE focused on empowering developers of residential and commercial buildings to deliver resource-efficient buildings in a fast, easy, and affordable way and it was a key part of IFC’s efforts to lead a sustainable future by encouraging construction developers worldwide to build a safer climate.
In certifying projects, there were three easy steps within the EDGE software, which are to receive a quote and send the required payment, submit compliance documentation and submit the project and win certification to better market the project to customers.
It has two stages, design and construction, and each stage mirrors the other, except that a site audit is required at the construction stage.
Mr Solomon Asamoah, Chief Executive Officer, GIIF said, “We believe in preservation of the natural resources and our climate for future generations.”
He said The Fund has invested $280 million in a portfolio of 12 infrastructure projects in seven sectors across Ghana.
The CEO said more importantly, for every $1 GIIF has put into projects, it had managed to bring in an additional $10 from external investors.
“This is already a sizeable return on the initial capital deployed by the government in GIIF,” he added.
He said what was impressive was that to date, every sponsor backed by GIIF was Ghanaian and this aligned with its ethos of raising the level of Ghanaian participation in infrastructure by building world-class projects with local sponsors.
GIIF had not only relied on the initial funding, it had received from the government but also raised financing from two Premier global financing institutions.
On July 2, 2021, the French Development Agency, (AFD), executed an US$85million 10-year Credit Facility Agreement with GIIF to on-lend to sustainable infrastructure projects in Ghana.
This was accompanied by a €400,000 technical assistance package to help build capacity within GIIF for increasing its green investments.
He said two of GIIFs existing projects namely Pullman and Crown Forest were EDGE Certified with a third, Sustainable Student Housing project, which has also initiated processes towards certification.
Mr Asamoah said GIIF would promote sustainable design practices, through collaborations with IFC to further commit to significantly promoting the EDGE software, standard, and certification system in their operations.
Source: Ghana News Agency