Building sector steps up to reduce energy use in buildings by 50% by 2030
Eleven leading companies from the buildings sector have come together with the support of WBCSD to develop a plan to reduce by 50% the projected energy use in buildings by 2030.
- AkzoNobel, Arcadis, ENGIE, Infosys, LafargeHolcim, Rexel, Schneider Electric,SGS, Siemens, Skanska and United Technologies are the participating companies.
- The program is part of WBCSD’s Low Carbon Technology Partnerships initiative (LCTPi) that brings together over 150 businesses and 70 partners to accelerate the development, deployment and scale up of game-changing low carbon technologies.
Paris, 3 December 2015 – Today, 11 leading companies launched an action plan to cut projected energy use in buildings in half by 2030 through energy efficiency approaches that offer favorable economic returns.
This major announcement comes at the Lima Paris Action Agenda thematic session on Buildings, which has launched a Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction to catalyze collaboration among organizations to put the building and construction sector on the “below 2°C path.”
The fragmentation of the complex building value chain is a significant barrier to the improvement of energy efficiency in buildings solutions at scale. The 11 companies joining LCTPi on Energy Efficiency in Buildings (LCTPi-EEB) will bring together stakeholders* in local markets to develop a common understanding of these market barriers and initiate actions that tackle them.
Commenting on the launch of the action plan, President and CEO of the WBCSD, Peter Bakker said: “The LCTPi-EEB proposes a clear way forward to multiply local action plans on energy efficiency in buildings across the globe. Partnerships are key to scaling up energy efficiency projects. Alliances such as the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction will be critical for channeling collaborative action among local and global players in the buildings space.”
The program is building on the WBCSD Energy Efficiency in Buildings 2.0 project, co-chaired by LafargeHolcim and United Technologies Corp. Since 2013, the project has piloted 10 initiatives to deliver local action plans for overcoming market barriers to energy efficiency in buildings in four core areas; awareness and leadership, workforce capacity (training and skills), financing, and policy and regulation.
Eric Olsen, CEO of LafargeHolcim said: “The LCTPi plan has an ambitious goal to reduce projected energy use in buildings by 50% by 2030. Delivering this will involve a concerted effort by all global partners to drive and scale up local action plans that address (national) barriers to energy efficiency in buildings.”
In 2016, LCTPi-EEB companies will continue collaboration to drive additional private sector-led projects that enhance energy efficiency. They will also transfer best practices to regional and global LCTPi partners who share ambitions to take a local engagement approach forward at scale.
J. Michael McQuade, Senior Vice President, Science and Technology at United Technologies, said: “LCTPi is addressing a global imperative to eliminate unnecessary energy use and carbon emissions in buildings, the largest sector of energy consumption in our economies. We have the technology today to make buildings more energy efficient, offer substantial environmental benefits and economic returns, and provide more efficient workplaces. By raising awareness of these benefits, we can drive changes that will deliver tremendous results for building occupants while also sharply lowering our carbon footprint.”
Today, the EEB 2.0 project is also launching its Energy Efficiency Toolkit for Buildings, a corporate guide for investing in an organization’s building portfolio. The toolkit includes examples from EDF, Infosys, Novartis, SGS, Skanska and Sonae Sierra.
Commenting on the launch of the Energy Efficiency Toolkit for Buildings, Jennifer Clark, Senior Vice President Green & Corporate Community Investment at Skanska said: “This Toolkit provides a variety of corporate approaches towards achieving energy efficient building portfolios, which assist in developing the approach that best fits organizations”