Sarah El Battouty Is Keeping It Cool While Facing a Warming Climate
Sarah El Battouty at the site of a zero emissions building built with natural thermal cooling stone and local material - by ECOnsult
The effects of climate change can easily be seen each day from every part of the world. The concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, as of May 2020, is at the highest level it has been in human history. Translation: increasing temperatures and drier land. In 2017 alone, weather and climate disasters (think 2020 wildfires as well for example) caused more than $300 billion in damage according to the National Centers for Environmental Information.
As human activity continues to impact climate change at an accelerating rate, it is more important for us all to understand green energy and sustainability.
Sarah El Battouty is the founder of ECOnsult, one of Egypt’s leading environmental design and auditing companies, is a senior advisor to the Egyptian president, and a 2020 WE Empower UN SDG Challenge Awardee with Vital Voices. ECOnsult has carried out the most certified energy-saving projects in Egypt. Her work spans across the globe, from Egypt and Italy to China, and focuses on partnering with the private sector and government to implement green projects.
In partnership with Vital Voices, The Fem Word co-founder Monika Samtani and contributor Olivia Eisenberg had the opportunity to (virtually) sit down with Sarah to learn about her accomplishments in the sustainable development industry, what we can do to stop climate change, and how we can work toward a more sustainable world.
You are the founder of one of Egypt’s leading environmental design and auditing companies, ECOnsult, which has carried out the largest number of certified energy-saving projects in Egypt. You’ve done green projects worldwide - from Egypt to Italy, China, and beyond. What was your favorite project?
I have 2! A coffee shop we designed and built for a church community to serve as a social space in the park in Palma, Italy. The brief was to create an environmental green project. The coffee shop is entirely made of waste and the innovation was to make it from discarded refrigerator casings from a local factory as well as have the fence made entirely from waste wood. A zero emissions, recycled building was made to look very contemporary and sleek. It was a great symbol for reinterpreting what waste recycling can look like.
The second project is a village for 120 inhabitants in Egypt’s rural agriculture community whereby we designed the whole project to respond to thermal comfort and climate challenges. This was the first low income triple certified project that is especially [designed] to increase the comfort of farm workers and relieve heat.
As a woman in this field working on sustainable development for almost two decades, what inspired you to go into this field and why was it important for you to do this as a career?
I’m inspired by the role we have towards society as architects in general and I’ve always been interested in the relationship between the built environment and nature. I became interested in this role because throughout my years of practicing design I can see a distance growing between climate needs and architecture, making the connection with the inhabitants more and more abstract. I think women have a talent in addressing needs and comfort and finding solutions. I’m constantly trying to incorporate that very holistic sense into my career. There are fewer women in the field of architecture and especially in the MENA region who are on construction sites as well as building. Being the only woman in a room was always something I was aware of. Now I am only aware of the lack of climate action in the room.
The state of climate change, as well as science and research, is constantly evolving; how are you staying ahead of the climate crisis? What do you see as the most important aspect of your work? How do you see your role changing with the evolution of the industry?
We need to keep an eye on the climate disaster frequency findings and connect it to resource depletion and impact. The climate crisis is not a surprise; [science] has always been apparent and the effects of climate change are gaining more and more prominence on the big economic, development scale and all the way to livelihoods. We see increased inequalities and human discomfort in all urban/rural areas due to reduced water, flooding, extreme heat and job losses. It’s undeniable and powerful.
The most important aspect of my work has been and will be advocacy to raise awareness of the lack of progress in the building and construction sector. The industry is not recognized as a key contributor to emissions and polluter, making it resistant to change and accountability. Government and Industry need to address sector emissions and livelihood impact, this is especially focusing on rising temperature and water scarcity throughout the sector. As architects we should no longer celebrate engineering excellence and design aesthetic unless it is encompassing environmental and climatic solutions. Another important aspect is the lack of education about green buildings in general and liberating the green building movement from one that is costly and high end to make it more accessible to vulnerable groups.
My role is to help make green buildings that save water, energy and resources, as well as increasing cooling, something affordable, so that homes for middle-to lower-income people can also be built in a way to address their needs. I also want to tap into indigenous and local knowledge in fighting the climate crisis and make them adaptive to developing countries. Why reinvent when the knowledge is there and why borrow solutions when they can be built on? That is a new direction and unexplored paradigm I’d like to bring to the industry.
According to UN Women, women and girls are more susceptible to poverty than boys and men because of various factors like lack of access to education and sources of income. As the climate crisis intensifies, how do these factors contribute to women struggling more with the hazards of climate change?
Absolutely true, women in all income strata have less of an advantage because the responsibilities and access to education / financing is not on an equal playing field as men. In rural communities, women work on farms without access to basic [solutions] on how to treat soil erosion, how to compost or create a values chain for their crop to sell beyond the market. Because women are physically bound by carrying the responsibilities of their children and households in a way that affects their mobility. They simply lack access to mitigation and adaptation knowledge which can help them plan for increased climate stresses and therefore fall behind men when it comes to capacity to prevent and deal with problems. Financing for women is unequal, even for higher income women, as well as the opportunity to become entrepreneurs because they have simultaneous responsibilities and enter the market at a later stage and with less capital than male counterparts. As a green architect and woman, I sound no support at all due to a market skeptical of women in the building sector and even more oblivious to the need for greener climate solutions. It wasn’t easy.
In 2020, the world witnessed devastating forest fires in California and Australia, in addition to more than 100 disasters affecting 50 million people around the world since the pandemic. As climate change becomes a more pressing issue around the world, what is your advice to those looking to make a difference on an individual level, even if it means small everyday changes? For those who don’t understand the urgency of the climate crisis, how do you convince them to get involved?
Climate change isn’t distant or abstract - it has an effect on everyone, individuals have to bring the climate crisis closer to what they care about: cities, oceans, animals, farms and rights. These are all different dimensions of how much climate change is becoming critical to all of us. On an individual level I think we need to raise awareness to those around us and keep being informed about the impacts. We can adopt small changes to eventually become a lifestyle principle. These decisions grow from one person to the household and workplace and so on. How we consume and our purchasing decisions are good ways to make conscious decisions, so we can start at our personal options and then work our way into bigger options, for example [reducing] imported food and packaging and plastic. We need to make environmental impact a daily part of our lives and decisions. That way, we as clients shape the markets.
There is a big difference between those who don’t understand the urgency and those who deny it. Those who don’t understand the urgency need to have the climate crisis simplified and put forward as [a] human problem due to rapid unaccountable development and bad management. This lack of management can be harmful to home or company or government and it is this unplanned growth that has damaged our environment too. This needs to be lobbied for in education curriculums shaping our view of success and responsibility. I think we need successful stories on the ground in all sectors and cultures of climate change solutions, and less activism [with] more pressure - more convincing via actual proof and support.
Climate deniers see the weakness in talking about the need for climate action vs. solutions that are undeniable and successful projects / initiatives. We as society need to raise the bar in our sectors to challenge the status quo continuously.
My bet is on young entrepreneurs and women because they are very well rehearsed when it comes to challenging [the] status quo.
It is shocking to find out that only 100 companies have been responsible for contributing over 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1988. How can individuals push their governments and the UN to limit the effects that these companies have on climate change, and what should our expectations be of these agencies? How is your work addressing this issue?
Each one of us has the power to choose how we consume what these companies produce, and alternatives are becoming more and more attainable. Governments and agencies listen to us when we become an influential player and that is what we do as a company made up of people with similar principles. Honestly, it is unrealistic to push corporates to change but the first thing we should call out is government and agencies or companies for “green washing.” As individuals, rejecting green washing as a society is a first step towards adding pressure to develop real change. We also shouldn’t expect or fall for big headlines on climate actions and request modest but effective action accompanied by a snowball effect.
The largest companies are making very big headlines but we have yet to see real impacts beyond sustainability reporting and marketing campaigns.
At work we studied the sector, market and built our knowledge for the need to make changes. Our team [looks] at how elevating the impacts of building for the sake of the people using them and the environment is a winning formula. Through our presence in various project scopes and various clients, we have always pushed for a progressive strategy. Because we have successful projects on the ground we have systematically gained influence first through localizing our work. We design for our climatic, environmental, economic and social needs but with a very creative perspective. So it is hard to ignore a good, affordable solution.
Through our advocacy and passion, we have been influencing bigger companies and decision- makers. A decade ago, we were completely alone explaining why a green company led by women is needed in Egypt and will be critical in future. It has been very empowering to see our journey.
I set up ECOnsult with little capital that I had from selling my old car. No one would help us with advice or investment. Slowly a team of architects and ecological researchers was established with very limited resources. Anyone can start a company but not anyone can start a movement. We have challenged and continue [to] challenge the construction industry via all channels yet we work to push the climate agenda with everyone, because in order to create a push we have to be able to have enough leverage to negotiate alternatives.
How has the focus of your work shifted in the past year since the COVID-19 pandemic?
COVID-19 hasn’t changed our work in the way it has other businesses. We have always been researching lowering our carbon footprint operationally as a company considering remote work, paperless and travel/commuting less, equally we have always been aware of unhealthy buildings with respect to inadequate ventilation and sanitation and their link to health. So the pandemic is bringing forward what we were worried about.
We have learnt how to interact as a team differently and advocate more for the need for natural solutions and vernacular design. From a managerial perspective, COVID-19 has given us an opportunity to assess our strategies, communication and partnerships because we have time to pause and look internally rather than working on advocacy and awareness only. Our exposure in events has increased with global partnerships we have wanted to pursue. This year we were finalists at Vital Voices as WE Empower Awardees, and also we are working with Ashden Org Fair Cooling Fund to raise the need for heat stress in our work. Both allowed our activism to resurface, giving a voice to community needs. It has been very good for us to be able to invigorate our inner advocate as a green company during this time.
Another opportunity for me during the slowing economy was to pursue a new project. In Jan 2020 I decided to create a new company which [upcycled] scrap waste wood into handmade luxury furniture. As a team, we have been looking towards green interiors as a natural progression of our architecture, so it made sense. MuBun Eco Furniture takes scrap waste wood, palm tree and fruit leaf that is discarded into the Nile or left to be burnt and we use this waste as the main component to make furniture. The process is chemical and heat free and has created new jobs for artisan carpenters. It’s a circular economy business that is very popular in such a short time. We are selling and exporting small quantities and look forward to growing.
COVID-19 has been a shock but we as a team are used to uphill challenges.
Where do you see your impact really shine as your greatest accomplishment over the past two decades? Describe a moment when you felt powerful.
Our impact as a company is bringing the green building movement to the table among the highest decision makers, policy makers, government and companies. We started out as a tiny team with no competition and we carved our own market niche and fought to disrupt the industry. Now we serve on the board of universities where we can influence curriculums. We are also advising multi nationals, banks and [the] government to adopt green guidelines in their assets and projects. This is powerful but I have to say we have to stay grounded and always try to focus on the affordable climate resilient buildings for low income communities. Giving people a voice through our work.
On a personal level, inspiring young women and entrepreneurs through teaching and advocacy is a privilege and something that is close to my passion.
~ Sarah El Battouty
On a personal level, inspiring young women and entrepreneurs through teaching and advocacy is a privilege and something that is close to my passion. Young people are seeing fast growth of start-ups that aim to grow into acquisition or sell fast. But you know when you work on development and sustainability as a business you have to be committed to the long progress of change and disruption. Design in general is a very intimate process and I knew I had to raise awareness to grow my company because we are a 4th sector hybrid working with all types of entities and audiences. I want to see hundreds of ECOnsult-like companies building our future cities and be the icon of this change inspiring architects all over not to be restrained. In my role as a mother, wife, volunteer, business woman and climate advocate I am very honest about struggles with the women I talk to and they can see the determination and relate to the fact that it’s very challenging but we have to inspire.
There have been many moments when we felt empowered and powerful. This year we were approached after a long line of advocacy and successful projects to partner on Egypt’s largest project. The upgrading of 4,000 rural villages housing 55 million people. We felt we were seeing the fruits of decades of work because we were approached as the only company to create a framework and terms to work with [the] government. We decided to develop green guidelines and introduce climate resilient solutions for these poor agricultural communities introducing a new dimension. These are the people we always wanted to be our clients and where we will have our prototype villages created for better livelihoods.
Want to do your part for the earth? Check out these resources from The Fem Word:
Rooftop Republic - co-founded by Vital Voices’ VV GROW Fellow Michelle Hong, bringing urban farming to city dwellers in Hong Kong and China
Karma - founded by sisters Julienne and Antje Worring in 2014. They empower women through sustainable fashion by giving women jobs in countries where less than 1 in 5 women are employed. Karma dedicates 7% of sales to ocean conservation efforts
Etsy - they make it possible to support all sorts of small, sustainably-minded sellers around the world, including woman-owned
This interview was made possible by The Fem Word x Vital Voices partnership. Vital Voices invests in fearless women leaders with a daring vision, and partners with them to make that vision a reality. The Fem Word broadcasts stories of bold women in creative spaces and has partnered with Vital Voices to bring these stories to you.
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