Organized by: Promoted by: With the participation of:

Assessing Sustainability of Building Materials in Developing Countries: The Sustainable Building Materials Index (SBMI)

Gibberd, Jeremy

Structure

• What current sustainability assessment methodologies can be applied to building materials and products?

• Do these provide an objective way of measuring, and representing,

sustainability impacts related to the building products in developing countries?

• Do assessment systems enable building products to be compared?

• If appropriate assessment methodologies do not exist, can an alternative methodology be proposed? If so, what does this look like?

Methodologies

Wide range of assessments systems, but:

• Not aligned to developing country contexts

• Require data that is not available

• High cost, high competency• Do not support comparisons

Most relevant:A. Global Reporting

Initiative B. ISO 26000 Guidance on

Social ResponsibilityC. Guidelines for Social

Lifecycle Assessment of Products

Global Reporting Initiative • Developed by the Global

Reporting Initiative• ‘a trusted and credible framework for

sustainability reporting’. • [ report content]... made by

considering..organization’s purpose and experience, ..expectations and interests of the organization’s stakeholders.

Criteria include: • Transport• Employment• Labour / management relations• Occupational health and safety• Training and education• Diversity and equal

opportunities

ISO 26000 Guidance on Social Responsibility

• Developed by International Standards Organisation (ISO)

• ...provide guidance on the underlying principles of social responsibility

• ...integrate socially responsible behaviour into the organization

• Guidance - not to be used for certification

Criteria include: • Human rights• Labour practices• The environment• Fair operating practices• Consumer issues• Community involvement and

development

Guidelines for Social Lifecycle Assessment of Products

• Developed by United Nations Environmental Programme

• Increase decision-makers’ awareness of more sustainable life cycle stages.

• Provide holistic assessments of the implications of a product’s life cycle for the environment and the society.

• Offer guidance to reduce environmental degradation increase the environmental, economic and social benefits

Criteria include• Human rights• Working conditions• Health and safety• Cultural heritage• Governance

Findings

• GRI, ISO and GSLAP methodologies are relevant and have useful concepts that can be applied to the CBA project.

• None of these methodologies can be readily be applied to compare social and economic impacts of building products in South Africa

• The GSLAP methodology comes closest to this requirements. It will however require standardisation to support comparability.

Sustainable Building Material Index

• Methodology for measuring, and representing, key environmental, social and economic sustainability impacts of building products.

• Comparisons: Enables comparisons between materials.

• Alignment: with lifecycle methodology, but simpler

• Suitable for developing country context

• Sustainability: Can be used by Architects, Developers, Manufacturers and Government to achieve sustainability objectives

SBMI approach

Product impacts Functional units

SBMI data and analysis

Resource depletion Type of m aterial Source Am ount Units Conversion factor EquivalentsClay O nsite 160 000 kg 1 160 000Coal Town (5km ) 2 400 kg 1 2 400Ash Burgersdorp (56km ) 280 000 kg 0Any others

Total 162 400162 400

0.54602

SBM I Lower Upper Units0 100 0 - 9 Resource consum ption per functional unit1 80 99 Resource consum ption per functional unit2 60 79 Resource consum ption per functional unit3 40 59 Resource consum ption per functional unit4 20 39 Resource consum ption per functional unit5 0 19 Resource consum ption per functional unit

Resource consum ption per unit of production

Lis t all materials used to produce construction products during analysis period

Resource consum ption per year (kg/year)

Resource consum ption per functional unitSBMI rating

Data

Normalisation

SBMI

SBMI criteria and report

Ecological • Resource consumption• Carbon emissions• Water consumption• Land use• Waste

Human Development• Employment• Enterprise support• Mentoring• Training• Health and safety• Absenteeism

water supply

brick forming

bricks for sale

drying bricks

homestead

ash

claywaste bricks

SBMI application: Informal brickmaking

Site informationOwner• Has worked on site for 20 years and moved once to access clay• Lives on site with familyArea• 1 of about 32 site currently active (in the top 10 producers)• Numbers of active sites reduced from about 69 in 2012• Some sites used sporadically, by house owners producing their

own bricks Site• Site area approx 3,000m2 (no defined boundary) • Consists of forming area, drying, firing, storage, water tank,

dwelling, storesProduction• 300,000 bricks a year; 200,000 blue bricks, 100,000 red bricks

(regarded as non-compliant)Employment• 3 permanent, 7 casualInputs• Ash from Burgersdorp (58km), coal from Alliwal North (5km),

clay on site

Recommendations1. Production processes and quality control: Practical training,

technical manual and quality control. Increase number of compliant (200,000 compliant to 300,000 bricks/year)

2. Rainwater harvesting: Direct runoff to onsite tanks / offsite dams to reduce carbon emissions and cost associated with pumping (50% reduction in pumping requirement)

3. Absenteeism: Life skill training and incentives to reduce absenteeism and increase production. (17 days a month to 22 days a month employment)

4. Marketing: Marketing and business development enterprise on site. Paid on retainer or as a % fee of sales. (1day a month)

5. Training and quality assurance enterprise: Training, quality control enterprise. Paid on retainer, or as a % fee of sales. (1day a month per employee & per enterprise)

6. Mentoring: Introduce Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). Access SETA funding for training, RPL and formal mentoring programme.(1day per employee a month and per enterprise)

7. Local procurement: Lobby local and provincial government to include local products in their specifications and procurement policy.

8. Awareness: Develop publicity about the products and market to local developers, architects and home builders.

Exis

ting

Propos

ed

SUSTAINABLE BUILDING M ATERIAL INDEX (SBM I) V2

Site address Thabisile site, Dukathole, Alliwall NorthAnalysis period 31 July 2014 - 1 August 2014Analysis period (days) 365

O verall

Hum an developm ent

Ecological

0000

2.17

1.67

MentoringHealth and safety

Resource consum ption Carbon em issions W ater consum ption Land useW aste

1.92

Ecological

Pollution Hum an Developm ent

Em ployee absenteeism

222250

43

Em ploym ent Enterprise em ploym entTraining

0

1

2

3

4

5Resource consum ption

Carbon emissions

W ater consumption

Land use

W aste

Pollution

Employment

Enterprise

Training

M entoring

Health and safety

Absenteeism

SUSTAINABLE BUILDING M ATERIAL INDEX (SBM I) V2

Site address Thabisile site, Dukathole, Alliwall NorthAnalysis period 31 July 2014 - 1 August 2014Analysis period (days) 365

O verall

Hum an developm ent

Ecological

5521

3.00

3.83

MentoringHealth and safety

Resource consum ption Carbon em issions W ater consum ption Land useW aste

3.42

Ecological

Pollution Hum an Developm ent

Em ployee absenteeism

333450

43

Em ploym ent Enterprise em ploym entTraining

0

1

2

3

4

5Resource consumption

Carbon emissions

W ater consumption

Land use

W aste

Pollution

Employment

Enterprise

Training

M entoring

Health and safety

Absenteeism

Conclusions & recommendations

Criteria • Insufficient data to use ‘pollution’

Process

• Works well with informal producers

• Provides clear framework for improvement

• Proposed interventions indicate requirements from other role players – promotes local linked systems

Summary

• Interventions to support quality and ensure reliable access to markets are important