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Policy Tools for Accelerating Sustainable Development Goals in Building Development

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SDGs in Africa and the Middle East Region

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Abstract

The construction industry is pivotal to sustainable development through its relationships with activities that contribute to sustainability of the built environment. However, this sector in many developing countries lacks the relevant policy instrument to facilitate actions needed to achieve SDGs. SDGs policies for construction are also bespoke to regional needs, yet increasingly applied to develop policy for new markets. Despite adjustment in this practice, global experiences show policies are infrequently comprehensive to account for all the essential requirements. Due to continuous improvement, policy reviews are also common but the knowledge of the fundamental issues has attracted limited research attention. This chapter evaluates the attributes and roles of effective Green Building (GB) policy tools and examines the status of related instruments in Nigeria to determine the region’s readiness to accelerate SDGs through building development. Worldwide, SDGs policies show inclination towards energy efficiency requirements principally. The current tool for Nigeria, Building Energy Efficiency Guidelines (BEEG), requires further development into an actionable instrument. Improvement is needed in SDGs policies for construction in terms of learning requirements. Policy tools need to articulate clear learning needs of stakeholders and the imperative framework to achieving the requirements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Sustainability Cost Research, University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria

    Samuel Ekung

  2. Department of Architectural Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE

    Alex Opoku

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  1. Samuel Ekung
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  2. Alex Opoku
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Architecture and Planning, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia

    Ismaila Rimi Abubakar

  2. Strathmore University, Nairobi, Kenya

    Izael da Silva

  3. Department of Geography, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

    Rudi Pretorius

  4. American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt

    Khaled Tarabieh

Section Editor information

  1. No affiliation provided

    Cagdas Dedeoglu

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Ekung, S., Opoku, A. (2024). Policy Tools for Accelerating Sustainable Development Goals in Building Development. In: Abubakar, I.R., da Silva, I., Pretorius, R., Tarabieh, K. (eds) SDGs in Africa and the Middle East Region. Implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals – Regional Perspectives. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17465-0_109

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