Seven years ago, in January 2016, the United Nations encouraged world leaders to adopt a list of sustainable development goals. This initiative was meant to minimize the harm caused to natural habitats by human activity, and to find alternative ways of living without using limited-supply natural resources.
According to a 2023 report, a mere 12% of those goals have been achieved so far, and our deadline is 2030. While some key stakeholders still don’t seem to understand the gravity of the situation, there are some people who are actively creating awareness and mobilizing efforts for this issue.
You have to admit, a big culprit behind environmental destruction is real estate projects. A 2022 UN report mentions that 40% of global carbon dioxide emissions come from the real estate sector.
Housing is something so essential to human survival- yet the way the real estate industry is functioning right now, it is majorly contributing to deforestation, climate change, global warming and shortage of resources.
In this article, we are going to look at how real estate projects impact our planet, and why it’s difficult to stop. Let’s start!
How does real estate harm the environment?
The reason why real estate projects cause so much environmental destruction, is because they require two things- land and people. First, they require empty land, which is usually an unexplored natural landscape, or land that is snatched away from native disadvantaged communities – either by forcing them out, or paying them off with a minimal amount of money.
Second, these projects are meant for people. When people come and start living here, they produce all kinds of waste, pollution, and destroy the ecological balance of the area. There are many ways in which this happens. Let’s look at a few examples.
Solid waste generation
The average American generates about 4.9 pounds of waste per day! Solid waste from kitchens, toilets, etc., along with dry garbage, is a lot to process. Various kinds of waste need to be processed in specific ways. Some types of hazardous waste have to be treated before they can be handled by humans.
But often, residential communities or commercial complexes are built without proper arrangements for waste segregation and treatment. Are there waste management centers near the building? Are there recycling options? Often, nobody bothers to ask these questions.
Wastage of resources
When construction projects are initiated in a particular region, people often fail to consider the local environmental and climate conditions. Some regions are naturally deficient in certain resources like water, sunlight, soil nutrients, etc.
These regions are not meant to sustain the fast-paced and wasteful urban lifestyle of the people who move into these newly constructed housing complexes. This puts a strain on the resources, creates shortage, and results in disappointment of the tenants.
Often, property owners respond to the situation in more destructive ways- importing resources by transporting them across long distances and disrupting lives from surrounding regions.
Disturbance in local life practices
As we discussed earlier, real estate projects sometimes introduce elements that are not compatible with the local style of life. Consider, for example, an area with a water shortage, where people live in small houses with one borewell each.
Someone sees an opportunity to buy land for a cheap price. Then they develop the plot into a multi-storied building with multiple housing units. One borewell is certainly not enough to meet the needs of so many people.
They pull more and more water from the borewell, and disrupt the delicate balance of the underground water table. The neighboring houses complain that their borewells are running dry because of this change.
So, they transport water from neighboring regions through tanker vehicles. As a result, they end up contributing to water shortage in those neighboring regions. Moreover, say the new residents of this building have never lived in water-scarce conditions before.
All they know is that they are moving into a new apartment. So their water usage patterns are not at all compatible with the local practices, which are aimed at conserving and re-using water. They end up wasting water and putting themselves in situations of intense scarcity. This situation is more real than hypothetical, given that the average American family wastes about 180 gallons of water per week!
What goes wrong with real estate projects?
When you look at the list of problems given above, you can see that these are clearly avoidable problems. They are not inevitable. So why does this happen? Why do we not have solutions that are implemented on a larger scale? Well, just like most questions about environmental degradation, the answer to this one is the same- human behaviour.
Here are some reasons why real estate projects are unsustainable.
Little concern for sustainability
This is the bluntest, and simplest way to put it. Many property owners, developers, and investors just don’t care about the environment. In fact, many people in general see caring for the environment as a personal hobby or interest.
But in fact, thinking about the environment should happen by default, just like how we think about eating food and drinking water- our survival depends on it. Sustainability should be a priority for real estate developers. But, just like with most other things, it is difficult for people to stay motivated without reinforcements or punishments- and that’s what we will look at next.
Inadequate government regulations.
Often, laws and regulations set by the government for sustainable growth are ignored by real estate developers. Negligence and ignorance on part of both, government agencies and private realtors, has led to a largely unregulated growth of properties that are harmful in the long term.
If you are a sustainable homeowner, or a green enthusiast, we hope this article helped you see the impact of real estate on the environment. In further articles, we will also cover practical actions that can be taken to reverse this trend and promote sustainable growth!
