Green building councils and cities join forces

Green building councils are joining forces with cities around the world to ramp up energy efficiency within buildings under a new partnership between the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) and the World Resources Institute-led Building Efficiency Accelerator (BEA) — a public-private partnership of cities, businesses and organisations which aims to improve energy efficiency in buildings.

Green building councils in Colombia, the United Arab Emirates, Poland and South Africa will work with mayors and staff in the cities of Bogota, Dubai, Warsaw and Tshwane, respectively, under the BEA in a bid to double the rate of energy efficiency by 2030. They will help cities to define the best action they can take to make efficiency improvements and receive market buy-in from those in the sector who will help to deliver these energy savings. The WorldGBC will meanwhile share resources and build capacity around the value of green building certification programs which can operate at a national but also local level.

“Cities and the buildings which make them up consume around 75% of global energy, putting them at the coalface of our fight against climate change,” said WorldGBC CEO Terri Wills. “But whilst they are a major consumer of energy, cities also have huge potential to dramatically reduce energy use, with buildings offering one of the most effective ways to do so. Through collaboration with cities, our green building councils will provide on-the-ground expertise to help realise this opportunity.”

More than 20 cities and states, and over 30 businesses, governments and technical experts specialising in building efficiency (including WorldGBC), are participating in the BEA worldwide. Further green building councils are expected to join the BEA through WorldGBC as the partnership develops.