Alexander
Sutedja spent his first three years amid the congested and crumbling streets of Cengkareng, a low-income neighborhood in west Jakarta crisscrossed by polluted canals. He played indoors to avoid the city’s air pollution, mosquitos, and bumper-to-bumper traffic. Dim light and stifling tropical heat demanded round-the-clock electric lighting and air-conditioning, causing the family’s utility bills to sky-rocket.
Just a few years later—Alexander is now in elementary school—the Sutedja family’s life looks very different. They have moved to a brand-new two-bedroom townhouse in Citra Maja Raya, an affordable and sustainable housing development on the outskirts of Jakarta. Its high ceilings, natural light and ventilation, water-efficient fixtures, and external shading, are attractive and comfortable. Even more important, though, it makes a better future possible: the new home allows Alexander’s mother, Emilia, to save money for his education instead of spending it on electricity.
“With my in-laws, I used to spend 800,000 rupiah [$55] on electricity for a month,” Emilia Sutedja says. “Now we spend 200,000 rupiah [$14] for the three of us. It’s a huge difference.”
The Sutedjas are far from alone. With 90 million Indonesians expected to join the middle class by 2030, Jakarta is experiencing an epic construction boom. Climate change is exacerbating this sprawling city’s growing pains—sea levels are rising, rendering parts of the city unlivable. City officials must grapple with the challenge of housing residents while also minimizing environmental impacts. They’ve prioritized green-building efforts like the Citra Maja Raya as part of an overall commitment to reducing building-related carbon emissions and water and energy consumption by 30 percent by 2030.
“We want Jakarta to be known as a city of excellence for green buildings,” says Oswar Mungkasa, Jakarta’s Deputy Governor for Spatial Planning and Environment
, “
and it will take both the public and private sectors to make this happen, as well as local communities and citizens.”
Green buildings are becoming central to the global effort to tackle climate change. A new IFC report,
Climate Investment Opportunities in Cities
, estimates that green buildings account for more than 80 percent of the of $29.4 trillion in investment opportunities that will open up in emerging-market cities such as Jakarta by 2030. In Jakarta alone, there’s an estimated $16 billion market for green buildings—not only in new construction but also in retrofitting older buildings.
RELATED LINKS
