India’s Building Code

Context

India’s Building Code considers only the operational emissions of a building and does not account for embodied emissions that are released during the material sourcing, construction, and demolition stages of the building life cycle.

Evolution of building codes in India

• National Building Code (NBC)-The first iteration of the National Building Code (NBC) dates back to 1970. While the NBC had general building guidelines in place, there were none pertaining to regulating emissions from the building sector
• Bureau of Energy Efficiency-In 2002, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) was established under the Energy Conservation Act to spearhead energy and emission-related regulations.
• Energy Conservation Building Code & Eco Niwas Samhita-The Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) was formed in 2007 for commercial buildings and the Eco Niwas Samhita (ENS) in 2018 for residential buildings.