In a region like Latin America, with 624 million habitants and over 80% of the population living in cities in 2019, achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement requires policies that can accelerate best practice and tackle climate action in the built environment. As a critical stepping stone on the path towards developing building efficiency policies, Green Building Councils (GBCs) in Latin America have been making significant contributions through the World Green Building Council’s (WorldGBC) Cities Climate Action Project (CCA). The project was funded and scaled up by P4G and builds on the Building Efficiency Accelerator (BEA) platform coordinated by the World Resources Institute (WRI).
Achievements from the project and this wide stakeholder collaboration include the introduction of four new building resource and energy efficiency policies in Colombia and Mexico in 2020 and 2021. Policies are now in development across countries such as Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala. These regulations provide the private sector with the right set of signals to align their investments with the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Cristina Gamboa, CEO of World Green Building Council:
“The Cities Climate Action Project demonstrates the progress which can be made when we work together. The right partnerships and collaborative approaches are critical in unlocking the building and construction sector’s contribution to climate action and sustainable development. They bring us together, inspire innovation and turn ideas into tangible projects which benefit our communities, our cities and, of course, our world.
“The result of our collaboration with our member Green Building Councils, the BEA platform, our partner, WRI, and our scale-up partner, P4G, has been staggering. Over 90 government officials have collaborated with over 100 partners, who have delivered technical and legal guidance for each city’s policy to be designed and published.
“We are very grateful for the support of P4G that enabled us to secure these policy wins that set the private sector on the right journey to deliver a decarbonised future. Radical collaboration across sectors and stakeholders is a necessary pillar for accelerating sustainable buildings for everyone, everywhere.”
Ian De Cruz, Global Director, P4G (Partnering for Green Growth and Global Goals 2030):
“We began our journey with the World Green Building Council two years ago. Through our approach of catalytic funding, strategic leadership, and deep engagement of our influential global ecosystem, we’ve increased the number of cities in Latin America, which are designing and implementing energy and resource efficiency policies.
“The WorldGBC Cities Climate Action Project is a true example of what partnerships can achieve. It demonstrates that when the governments and the private sector collaborate towards a common goal, in this case an energy efficient built environment which will sustain our way of life, revolutionary change can happen.
“We are proud supporters of the Cities Climate Action Project and the BEA platform. The next step for this partnership is creating green finance products and institutionalising GBCs and codes into not only energy efficient buildings but also net zero homes. There is a huge opportunity to create the radical change we need to achieve sustainable cities. Together, we can leverage our partnerships and investors to create an inclusive built environment that works for all people and our planet.”
View our Impact Report for the Cities Climate Action Project and get involved on social media at #CitiesClimateAction @WorldGBC.
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About World Green Building Council
The World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) catalyses the uptake of sustainable buildings for everyone, everywhere.
Transforming the building and construction sector across three strategic areas—climate action, health & wellbeing, and resources & circularity — we are a global action network of 70 Green Building Councils around the world.
As members of the UN Global Compact, we work with businesses, organisations and governments to drive the ambitions of the Paris Agreement and UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development. Through a systems change approach, our network is leading the industry towards a net zero carbon, healthy, equitable and resilient built environment.
Now in its third year, the Cities Climate Action Project (CCA) was set up in 2019 and aims to deliver policies that promote resource efficiency in buildings, with an emphasis on energy. The project extends the proven framework of the Building Efficiency Accelerator (BEA) platform to help city governments, private companies and NGOs work together to deliver energy efficiency in buildings at scale. The BEA platform, coordinated by our partner World Resources Institute (WRI), is an international network bringing transformational change in building practices. To date, Over 90 government officials worked on the management and leadership of the project from the city and state perspectives.
WorldGBC´s Cities Climate Action Project
About P4G
P4G – Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 – accelerates pioneering market-based partnerships to build sustainable and resilient economies. We invest in impact to deliver inclusive and tangible solutions to build back better and greener to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement.
MEDIA CONTACT
Tessa Eydmann-Peel, PR and Communications Coordinator, World Green Building Council teydmannpeel@worldgbc.org +44 (0) 7932491571
