The cheapest and cleanest energy is the energy we do not use. The IEA calls efficiency the “first fuel”, yet the world improves by around 2.2% a year when it needs to more than double that pace by 2030. Buildings account for about 30% of global final energy use and more than half of electricity consumption. A building built to a modern code can use up to 50% less energy, and replacing a fossil boiler with a heat pump can cut energy use by up to 75%.

This session brings regulation, measured performance and finance into a single format. Two keynotes set the direction. A first panel shows how French building regulation, the Décret Tertiaire and RE2020, together with the World Championship for Energy Savings (WCES), inspires other countries and makes real performance comparable internationally. A second panel addresses scale through finance, drawing on PEEB’s ten years of experience and concrete public-private cases. The whole session serves the COP31 Presidency goal of cutting building sector energy intensity by at least 25% by 2035. 

Hosted by Schneider Electric, AFD (PEEB), A4MT (Action for Market Transformation), GIZ