Global Sustainability Assessment Research Articles

A critical analysis of selected global sustainability assessment frameworks: Toward integrated approaches to peace and sustainability

Achieving sustainable development requires peaceful conditions. However, current sustainability impact assessment tools tend to overlook aspects of positive peace, particularly in societies transitioning from conflict. Recent efforts attempt to address this gap, but the examination of how positive peace indicators integrate into major global sustainability assessment (GSA) frameworks remains underexplored. This study evaluates whether GSA frameworks consider positive peace or the elimination of structural violence and enabling societal conditions that sustain peace. We selected eight GSA frameworks for the analysis: Environmental Performance Index, Global Green Economy Index, Green Growth Index, Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index, Happy Planet Index, Planetary Adjusted Human Development Index, Sustainable Development Goals Index, and Sustainable Society Index. We first evaluated the eight GSA frameworks using the Bellagio Sustainability Assessment and Measurement Principles (BellagioSTAMP) covering guiding vision, essential considerations, adequate scope, framework and indicators, transparency, effective communication, broad participation, and continuity and capacity. Then we analyzed consolidated indicators from the frameworks to determine if they pay balanced attention to different sustainability dimensions and integrate positive peace. While evaluation using BellagioSTAMP is generally satisfactory, positive peace is inadequately addressed in some frameworks, despite peace being a prerequisite for sustainable development. The study results can inform the development of assessment frameworks that better integrate the components of peace and sustainability. The study also highlights the importance of positive peace in achieving sustainable development and the need to ensure assessment frameworks inform actions toward building peaceful communities.

Global trends in sustainability rating assessment systems and their role in achieving sustainable urban communities in Saudi Arabia

Abstract Sustainability as a concept is tackled a lot in contemporary urbanism due to its importance; consequently, this led to the development of global trends toward achieving it. The current research attempts to identify how sustainability could be achieved in urban design and how to comply with the global concerns. This paper tackles the experiences of the global trends toward sustainability concepts in terms of its application by examining a range of contemporary global urban examples. It depends on a comparative analytical assessment using the ‘Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Neighborhood Development, LEED-ND’ assessment system in order to address the criteria measuring the sustainability indicators for these examples. These criteria are mainly grouped under the following categories: sustainable planning and design, water management, energy management, waste management, transportation and construction materials and resources. The research mainly aims to identify strategies and criteria assisting in achieving sustainability concept and implementation in urbanism at international level and their role in achieving sustainable urban settlements in Saudi Arabia. In order to achieve this aim, the research methodology includes the following: review of the global sustainability assessment tools, review of the ‘LEED-ND’ assessment system, analytical comparative assessment of ‘King Abdullah University of Science and Technology’ and ‘Masdar City’ according to the ‘LEED-ND’ system as case studies and identifying strategies and criteria that achieve sustainability in urban design and planning.

Eating your greens: a global sustainability assessment

The importance of healthy diets is woven into the fabric of the Sustainable Development Goals, although there is no clear metric to define it. Employing a simulation model (MAGNET), this study examines the sustainability implications arising from the adoption of recommended daily nutrition requirements inspired by the ‘Lancet’ reference diet. To measure sustainability, changes in ‘virtual’ requirements and associated tier footprints for irrigation (blue) water, agricultural land and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are calculated. Assuming business-as-usual food consumption trends, between 2015 and 2050 blue water, agricultural land and emissions rise 34%, 9% and 44%, respectively, whilst corresponding increases in Sub-Saharan Africa are much higher. By 2050, the switch to the reference diet decreases agricultural land use by -8% and emissions by -9%. Global blue water and cropland requirements increase by 5%, whilst significant concomitant savings in permanent pastureland (-21%) are expected. By region, the diet switch drives rising blue water consumption in Oceania and the EU and agricultural land savings in Latin America and Oceania, accompanied by cropland increases in the EU and North Africa. The reference diet generates substantial reductions in GHG emissions, particularly in Latin America. Interestingly, Sub-Saharan Africa which abstains from the reference diet due to affordability considerations, benefits from a ‘rebound’ effect from falling meat and dairy prices. Finally, the diet shift could result in marginal per capita food expenditure rises arising from demand driven fish price, particularly in more vulnerable world regions. This estimate does not capture, however, second-round economic growth effects arising from increased labour productivity and reduced public health expenditures.

Grease the Green Wheels: A Framework for Expediting the Green Building Movement in the Arab World

It has been over three decades since the term “sustainable development” was coined in Brundtland’s report in 1987, and 28 years have passed since the world’s first sustainability assessment method for buildings was founded by the Building Research Establishment in UK in 1990. During these three decades, many sustainability standards, codes, and rating systems were created and used to help in designing, constructing, maintaining, rating, and labeling buildings with attaining the principles of sustainability. Yet by looking at the Arab world at the beginning of 2019, one can argue that, although the Arab countries have dedicated the effort and budget to save energy, water, and natural resources, the region as a whole is still struggling to shift the paradigm of the building industry from conventional to sustainable. This struggle raises some questions; are there any challenges that Arab countries must overcome to leap forward to a prosperous sustainable building design and construction practices? Why are existing green building rating systems such as Estidama in United Arab Emirates, global sustainability assessment system (GSAS) in Qatar, and ARZ in Lebanon lagging behind the trends of green building rating systems in the developed countries? What are the coordinated steps needed to expedite this movement across the region? The current study explores the limits and potentials of the green building industry in the Arab world through analysis of the green building initiatives, academic scholarship activities in architecture and engineering sectors, and feedback from green building professionals across the Arab world. This article introduces a theoretical framework to expedite the green building movement in the Arab region; the framework is shaped by the environmental, social, and economic factors that are crucial to the transformation of the building industry from conventional to sustainable. The study seeks to support a line of research that could help governments in the Arab world catch up with the global green building trends.

A Gap Analysis on Urban Sustainability Studies and Urban Sustainability Assessment Tools

Urbanization rate has been accelerated especially due to industrialization. This acceleration has caused obstacles for healthy urbanization, (e.g. unplanned cities). Increase in the population and uncontrollable migration from rural areas to urban areas have contributed to this problem. New researches have been made and new terms have been created to solve this problem. Sustainability assessment became one of the popular terms in different research fields especially in the field of architecture and urban planning in recent years. This paper is based on an in-depth literature analysis and on the assessment tools analysis. 200 publications on urban sustainability published between 2000-2015 have been investigated with relevant key words. Besides this literature investigation, 6 world leading urban neighborhood sustainability assessment tools have been investigated. This study revealed two gaps in the literature and assessment tools with respect to the sustainable urban planning. These identified gaps are: the need for taking urban scale into account that has an important role for sustainability and the need for taking developing countries and their high population trends in the global sustainability assessment’ This study is expected to contribute to the literature with respect to the lessons learned from the past and recent trends in the sustainable urban planning at the global scale.

Occupant productivity and indoor environment quality: A case of GSAS

Abstract Purpose The purpose of the paper is to establish links between Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) factors that affect occupant productivity and Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) building rating system. The paper analyses the current state of GSAS using a desktop study, survey and brainstorming session organised in a workshop with GSAS Certified Green Professionals (CGP). Methodology/design/approach The study was conducted in three steps. First, a comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify IEQ factors that influence occupant productivity in offices. The second step was a desktop analysis of current GSAS building rating system to identify criteria and submittals that may help to increase occupant productivity. It was followed by a facilitated workshop of GSAS CGPs that included a survey and a brainstorming session to highlight the current state of GSAS rated building performances on occupant productivity. The workshop was attended by 41 CGPs in Doha, Qatar. Findings The paper highlighted that GSAS needs to be updated to increase occupant productivity in GSAS rated buildings. A periodic post-occupancy survey in GSAS buildings should be mandated to ensure better occupant productivity. The paper also presented various methods to make GSAS rated buildings more occupant-friendly. Originality/value This study is the first study to analyse green building guidelines in the context of occupant productivity, especially in Qatar.

A New Sustainability Assessment Approach Based on Stakeholder's Satisfaction for Building Façades

This paper presents a new Multi-Criteria Decision Making model based on the MIVES method for global sustainability assessment of façade systems. Since 1990, various methods have been proposed for the sustainability assessment of buildings. However, most of the existing methods mainly concentrate on environmental and economic aspects, disregarding the third pillar of sustainability, which is the social aspect. Besides, there is a little focus on comprehensive sustainability assessment of facades, as an important element of a building. This confirms the need of developing new methods for assessing the sustainable performance of building façades as an important step in achieving building sustainability.

A Novel Integrated Building Energy System for High Performance Façade

Qatar National Development Strategy (QNDS 2011-2016) stated that residential cooling loads count for two-thirds of the energy consumption. The extreme high air-conditioning loads raise the urgent need for novel and multifunctional technologies that reduce the thermal energy demand. The Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) mandated thermal energy benchmarks to reduce the building's need for cooling. The most predominant impact on cooling loads is the solar radiation. Reflecting or reuse of solar radiation has attracted the attention of several researchers. This paper focuses on void space thermal insulation (VSTI) that functions to deliver high performance active and / or passive thermal insulation performance in buildings in tandem with managed fresh air ventilation supply for clean, healthy indoor environments. VSTI can combine the heat losses with the HVAC systems for better building performance. Different embodiments of the VSTI will include brick-block and steel frame constrictions, sandwich panels for pre-cast concrete constructions, internal wall insulation and external wall insulation. Initial modelling results showed that a VSTI panel can potentially deliver the desired level of fabric performance, using only 50% of the insulation thickness irrespective of what insulation material is used. In this paper, a dynamic simulation model was used to estimate the energy and carbon reduction due to the use of VSTI for a residential room. The results showed around 12% reduction in the cooling load and 4% in the overall energy consumption and carbon emissions.

Criteria and indicator approach of global sustainability assessment system for sustainable landscaping using native plants in Qatar

The present study focuses on the importance and need to identify criteria and indicators (C&I) for sustainable landscaping using native plants in Qatar. The conditions for operationalizing the criteria and indicators approach are being incorporated into sustainable development practices and management planning in Qatar. This paper aims to develop criteria and related indicators for strengthening the global sustainability assessment system (GSAS) in order to provide a holistic approach for sustainable environmental assessment and the enhancement of ecosystem services. A total of 50 potentially native plant species were prioritized and categorized based on the following different parameters: weather conditions tolerated (temperature, humidity, and rainfall), multiple use value (ecological, economical, and medicinal), standard crown size (≤50cm and ≥50cm) and water requirement (moist, moderate, and dry). Diverse local stakeholders as well as international experts were consulted to rank the plant species, and concluded that these prioritized native species are fit for sustainable landscaping as opposed to the exotic plant species which are imported from different geo-climatic zones. Environmental, social, economic, human, and policy sustainability aspects were considered, along with 12 criteria and 49 related indicators which were identified by promoting the use of potential native plants for sustainable landscaping in Qatar.

Seed germination and growth performance of Aerva javanica (Burm.f.) Juss ex Schult

The present investigation emphasizes the significance and conservation values of an important medicinal plant Aerva javanica for sustainable utilization and urban landscaping in Arabian Desert. Seeds of A. javanica germinated well under laboratory as well as nursery conditions, indicating their little dormancy. Germination percentage was significantly higher under darkness as compared to light at lower temperature (15/25°C). Despite the seeds attained highest germination percentage (81%) in the darkness at the low temperature, it was significantly less at high temperatures (34%) in the darkness. However, under the nursery condition seeds attained significantly higher germination (60.25%) compared to seed germinated in dark condition at higher temperature (25/35°C) and seed germinated in light condition at lower temperature (15/25°C). Germinated seedlings in nursery condition were grown and ten healthy plants were selected randomly for measuring growth performance (hight and spread) and survival percentage in every alternative month (January, March, May, July, September, and November). A. javanica plants showed vigorous growth (71.4±49.41cm height and 75.5±52.65cm spread) with a survival rate of 70% after one year. Results indicated that A. javanica is suitable for sustainable landscaping in desert climate due to its characteristic features, Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) criteria measures i.e. drought resistance, low water requirement, growth performance, survival rate, and their multipurpose use value.

Ethnobotanical magnitude towards sustainable utilization of wild foliage in Arabian Desert

The present investigation was deals with identifying traditional uses of medicinal plants for curing a variety of ailments and degree of religious conservation for retention of ethnobotanical knowledge. The study was carried out in the State of Qatar to document the ethnobotanical uses of 58 medicinally important plant species including identification, botanical name, Arabic name, family, habit, habitat, distribution pattern, and the plant parts used for curing variety of ailments. The documented species belong to 54 plant genera and 30 botanical families. They have been used to cure more than 38 different kinds of human ailments. A majority of ethnobotanical plant species belonging to shrubs (41.38%) followed by perennial herbs (31.04%), annual herbs (18.96%) and trees (8.62%) respectively. The frequency of ethnobotanical plant species were recorded maximum in fabaceae (13.79%), followed by lamiaceae, chenopodiaceae (6.89% each), asteraceae, capparaceae, polygonaceae, boraginaceae, aizooaceae (5.17% each), brassicaceae, asclepiadaceae, convolvulaceae, zygophyllaceae, solanaceae (3.44% each) while, remaining 17 families had one (1.72%) species each. Perception of stakeholders concerning prioritization and categorization of potential native plants and 25 ethnobotanical species were prioritized and ranked on the basis of their multipurpose use value, feasibility climatic conditions and Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) criteria measures i.e. drought resistant, low water requirement, growth performance, survival rate, canopy size, adaptation potential, low maintenance and use value for sustainability and landscaping. The analysis emphasized the potentials of ethnomedicinal research, sustainable utilization, conservation initiatives, and urgent need to document ethnobotanical knowledge for sustainability and scientific validation to prevent their losses.

Sustainability in the Middle East: achievements and challenges

The built environment industry, being among those which generate the most pollution, offers significant opportunities to alleviate environmental pollution and promote the sustainable use of resources. The Middle East region, hindered by natural constraints and underlying political and social issues, has tried over the years to shift towards more sustainable practices in design and construction. This review article sheds light on the achievements and challenges of sustainable development in the Middle East.With the development of green building codes in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, and Lebanon, the Middle East region has strived to become more environmentally friendly, with record-breaking developments. The region currently has four well-established green building codes: the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council's Estidama; Dubai Municipality's Green Building Regulations; the Lebanese Green Building Council's ARZ; and GORD's GSAS: Global Sustainability Assessment System, in Qatar. Green building codes...

Modelling the thermal energy demand of a Passive-House in the Gulf Region: The impact of thermal insulation

Abstract The built environment has a direct impact on the Gulf Region natural environment, the economy and human health. Buildings have to respond to local climate and site conditions to maximize building users’ comfort and health while minimizing energy use. Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) developed a simplified, standalone, building energy standard to support Qatar’s and the MENA region building energy ratings. Air conditioning counts for more than 60% of the electricity consumption in GCC countries. Consequently, GSAS limited the maximum annual cooling demand for new-build housing compliance in Qatar to 121 kW h/m 2 . High rated energy-efficient houses must call for 72 kW h/m 2 or less. GSAS targets raised the need for innovative passive design technologies to reduce the cooling demand in hot humid climates. A prototype house was constructed to test new technologies and variant insulation techniques, such as dynamic insulation. The house has two operation modes, the static mode and the active mode. This paper presents the Passive-House pilot project construction details and the monitoring results within the tested period. The study compares the annual cooling demand from the simplified GSAS Energy Calculator model and the detailed Dynamic Simulation Model (DSM). Neither model can handle the thermodynamic and fluid dynamic processes of the active insulation. An independent model is used to calculate the heat-transfer coefficient of the dynamically insulated walls, validated experimentally and then coupled with the energy models. The discrepancies in the predicted annual cooling demand between the simplified and detailed models did not exceed 15% for both static and dynamic operations of the Passive-House. Energy assessors can use GSAS Energy Calculator to predict the annual cooling demand with more confidence to demonstrate buildings compliance. Energy models should account for in-use factors to allow for differences in practical installation and performance compared to the laboratory test conditions for selected systems and technologies, which require field trials.