Climate Action 2016-2017

and over 50 other national and international
organisations including WorldGBC. Although still
in its early stages, there are significant future
opportunities for the Alliance, such as helping
countries to deliver on their own ‘Intended
Nationally Determined Contributions’ (INDC)
targets through building efficiency, and ensuring
climate finance can flow through to buildings.
Buildings Day also provided the opportunity
for the industry to present its own commitments
designed to step up action. WorldGBC and its
network of over 70 Green Building Councils and
27,000 member companies announced one of
the largest buildings-related commitments at
COP21, by collectively pledging to dramatically
reduce emissions from buildings. Together with
the International Energy Agency, we calculated
that we must reduce emissions of some 84
gigatonnes of CO 2
by 2050 – the equivalent of
not building 22,000 coal powered plants – if we
are to keep global warming to within 2°C. This
is a bold target, but one that can absolutely be
achieved through green building, and specifically
net zero new buildings and the energy efficiency
refurbishment of our existing ones.
DELIVERING PROGRESS
A year on, we are delivering solid action against that
commitment. In March 2016, we launched BUILD
UPON – the world’s largest collaborative project on
building renovation, funded by the European Union’s
Horizon 2020 fund. BUILD UPON is tackling one of
Europe’s most daunting climate challenges – its
existing buildings, which account for 36 per cent
of the EU’s total CO 2
emissions. Thirteen Green
Building Councils will hold 80 events and create a
policy dialogue with stakeholders from over 1,000
organisations, in order to support their countries to
deliver national renovation strategies. We believe
this project will spark nothing short of a renovation
revolution across Europe – hopefully followed soon
by other continents.
Three months later in June, we launched
Advancing Net Zero, a groundbreaking project
which aims to ensure that all new buildings have
net zero emissions by 2030, extending this to all
buildings by 2050. This is another vital part of
our efforts to stay within 2°C. This project grew
out of the growing momentum behind our COP21
commitment. Three Green Building Councils
initially announced they would introduce a net
zero certification, and this ambition has spread
through our network with 10 Green Building
Councils from countries as diverse as Brazil,
Canada, India and South Africa now committed to
introduce net zero building certification schemes.
These will challenge those in the industry to
strive for buildings that create no emissions, and
contribute little or nothing to climate change.
We have also seen another COP21 commitment
turn into a major initiative. Many Green Building
Councils have committed to working with their
governments – city and national – to develop
stronger and more ambitious green building
policies. The result is a partnership with the World
Resources Institute on the UN Sustainable Energy
for All’s Building Efficiency Accelerator (BEA)
programme, designed to help to double the rate of
energy efficiency globally by focusing on key cities
such as Dubai, Warsaw, Bogota and Tshwane. The
partnership has been met with great enthusiasm
from mayors and leaders of major cities, with the
Secretary General of the Dubai Supreme Council of
Energy (DSCE), HE Ahmed Butti Al Muhairbi, stating
that the BEA would help to “foster a culture of
efficiency in existing and new buildings … to ensure
a sustainable environment for future generations.”
FOCUS ON FINANCE
As an international green building movement,
we are proud of the progress we have made
against our COP21 commitment. But we know we
"Many Green Building
Councils have
committed to working
with their governments
– city and national – to
develop stronger and
more ambitious green
building policies."
must continue to act, and in particular address
challenges not yet overcome. In particular,
climate finance is a focus in Marrakech, and
has been identified as a main priority for the
Moroccan COP22 Presidency, particularly the
question of how developing countries can
better access finance to adequately address
climate change. Many global South countries
set ambitious targets as part of their INDCs, yet
they specified that these could not be achieved
without the ability to unlock climate finance, and
thus the ambition of the Paris Agreement would
ultimately be much more difficult to reach.
Over the next 15 years, it is estimated that
roughly US$93 trillion of low-emission and
climate-resilient infrastructure will need to
be built globally. Financing this infrastructure
is critical, which is why we at WorldGBC are
focusing on a few key areas of climate finance
and low emission infrastructure at COP22.
First, we will continue to support innovative
climate finance mechanisms. We are beginning
to see real progress within the property industry
on this. Green bonds, for example – those
which are used to fund projects with a positive
environmental or climate benefit – are being
increasingly used for green building projects. In
fact, the non-profit organisation Climate Bonds
expects green property bonds to make up to 40
per cent of the green bonds market in the future.
In 2015 the Green Building Council of Australia
joined Climate Bonds as a partner, allowing
Australian property owners to use the Green Star
building certification tool to help attract new
sources of funds from large institutional investors
seeking low-carbon assets.
This example from Australia – and the
partnership between WorldGBC, cities, Green
Building Councils and the WRI on the Building
Efficiency Accelerator – shows how Green
Building Councils are uniquely positioned to
secure climate finance, and to work with other
TECHNOLOGY, TRANSPORT & URBANISATION
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