EcoCasa Program Outperforms Its Green-Building Goals

Mexico’s Sociedad Hipotecaria Federal (SHF) finances houses for low-income families. For the last five years, it has been giving incentives for the construction of energy-efficient houses through a program called “EcoCasa.” The program has been successful in reducing Mexico’s carbon footprint while sustaining the housing industry’s growth and providing affordable housing.

SHF partnered with the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and the KfW Development Bank to offer cheaper lending rates to developers and financial intermediaries if the projects comply with EcoCasa’s main requirement: a 20-percent reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in comparison to a baseline house. The reduction is obtained through construction and architectural techniques that allow occupants to reduce their energy consumption over the house’s life cycle.