59 of US$100,000 billion for sustainable projects, CBI supports and encourages the green economy throughout Latin America,” according to Dario Ibargüengoitia. And what if the building costs were covered by a charity or NGO? One such example is the Kuyasa project in the suburb of Khayelitsha, Cape Town’s largest township, in South Africa. Since 2006, the city’s authorities and the NGO SouthSouthNorth have begun renovating 2,300 houses in the Reconstruction and Development program (RDP), installing solar water heaters and energy-saving lighting systems and insulating ceilings. The results include an expected reduction in CO2 emissions over a 21‑year period (2.85 tCO2e/ house/year), improved sanitary conditions through the prevention of respiratory diseases, and an almost 40% drop in energy expenses. It provides a real boost for the local economy with the annual creation of 100 jobs to install the infrastructure. AQUESTIONOF TRAINING Sustainable construction is arousing a growing interest and being increasingly practiced, as Dario Ibargüengoitia highlights. In his view, even if Latin American society has not yet entirely taken on board the idea of decarbonization, the trend is for healthier, well-ventilated, energy‑saving spaces offering good thermal comfort. Particularly in Central and South America and large cities such as São Paulo, Buenos Aires, and Mexico City. Earth and adobe (or compacted earth) or terracotta bricks form an alternative to concrete for individual housing. They account for half of houses worldwide. In future, raising greater awareness of sustainable construction will involve more investment in training populations in the Global South. While countries of the South still have few architects and engineers in the building sector(3) trained in a project’s social sustainability, bodies such as the Sustainable Architecture Training Center in Argentina and the Training Center for Sustainable Construction in Morocco are attempting to remedy this. Building with earth and wood, the latter looks to combine traditional know-how with modern technologies. Meanwhile, the Peru‑based Ella Network has a learning community devoted to best practices and methodologies to create cities capable of withstanding climate change. (3) Improving Socially Sustainable Design and Construction in Developing Countries (Procedia Engineering, volume 145, 2016, p. 288-295).
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