Portugal SB10: Sustainable Building Affordable to All
The international conference Portugal SB10 will take place in Vilamoura, Algarve (Portugal), from 17 to 19 March 2009. SB10 is coorganized by iiSBE Portugal and Universidade do Minho, Instituto Superior Técnico. This event is part of the international Sustainable Building conference series which will lead to the worldwide conference of iiSBE, CIB and UNEP in 2011.
This conference will be focused on Low Cost Effective Solutions for Sustainable Construction.
It is supported by CIB, UNEP and iiSBE, and will account with the participation of a set of internationally recognized keynote speakers, such as Charles Kibert, Raymond Cole, Nils Larsson, Thomas Lützkendorf, Kaarin Taipale and Ronals Rovers.
Special announcement: International Green Building Conference, 28-30 October 2009, Singapore
In line with the Singapore government’s commitment to create a better, greener living environment, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) is organising the inaugural International Green Building Conference (IGBC) 2009 in Singapore on 28-30 October 2009.
Themed “Build Green, The Future is Now” and held back to back with the UNEP-SBCI Round Tables and the BEX Asia exhibition, IGBC 2009 will focus on green issues concerning the industry, with an emphasis on green building technologies and green building designs. IGBC 2009 is the anchor event of the Singapore Green Building Week, which happens from 26 October – 1 November 2009. The Singapore Green Building Week will also feature the official opening of Singapore’s first Zero Energy Building - one of the first of its kinds in the world. Participants of IGBC will have the opportunity to visit outstanding green buildings including the Zero Energy Building, as part of the BCA Green Mark Tours. For more information on IGBC 2009, please visitwww.igbc.com.sg.
We are pleased to inform you that UNEP-SBCI members are eligible for a special discount of 30% off the conference rates! BCA would also like to invite you to sign up early to enjoy an additional early bird discount of 10% if you register for IGBC 2009 before 31 August 2009. Please proceed to http://www.igbc.com.sg/registration_form.php to register now.
Annual Meetings & Symposium on Buildings & Climate Change, Washington D.C.
UNEP SBCI members the US Green Building Council played host to our Annual meetings in Washington DC from 15 – 17 April. Over eighty invited leaders of the building sector worked for two days to refine a ‘Call to Action on Buildings and Climate Change’, a statement that will bring the common voice of the building sector to the delegations negotiating a new global protocol to tackle climate change.
The statement sets out commitments to action that private sector, public authority, municipal, education and research and NGO stakeholders are taking to reduce building-related greenhouse gas emissions. It also asks national delegations to promote the importance of the building sector in the climate negotiations, and include the need for including mechanisms to support the building sector in delivering its potential of significant emission reductions. In particular the call asks all national delegations to the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP) 15, to be held in Copenhagen in December 2009 to:
Include an agenda item at COP15 the need to emphasize the building sector as a top priority that is fundamental to achieving significant greenhouse gas emission reductions.
Support the inclusion of measures in the new global climate-change treaty that encourage investments in both new building and building renovation projects that reduce or eliminate emissions.
Include in the technology transfer framework/measures, support to capacity building to enable and increase energy efficiency in existing and new buildings.
Support the reform of the CDM by encouraging investment in reducing the energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions from building operations.
Mandate that the UNFCCC establish working groups to develop specific measures for the building sector prior to the commencement of the next commitment period.
Encourage Governments to conduct an inventory of emissions from the national building stock and set targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in existing and new buildings.
On behalf of the members of UNEP SBCI we would like to thank the US GBC for hosting an excellent event. Special thanks to Tom Hicks, Sabrina Morelli and the USGBC Team. Also thanks to Amy Fraenkel and Clayton Adams of the UNEP Regional Office for North America for their support. Finally thank you to our speakers and contributors throughout the event.
INTRODUCING UNEP SBCI's New Board for 2009-2010
Chair: Birgitte Holter – Hydro Building Systems Vice Chair: Zhang Yue, CEO BROAD Air-Conditioning Past-Chair: Ike Van der Putte, FIDIC
New Board Members:
Maria Atkinson – Global Head of Sustainability, Lend Lease Corporation Constant Van Aerschot – Director Construction Trends, Lafarge Marcelo Takeoka – President, Brazilian Sustainable Building Council
UNEP thanks the board for their commitment to SBCI and look forward to working with you in this important year.
OFFICIAL SUBMISSION to UNFCCC on Buildings & Climate Change
On 24th April our official UNEP SBCI submission to UNFCCC's Additional Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA) was officially dispatched. This submission functions as a place holder for texts to be developed under the Copenhagen Agreement in relation to the building sector. It is directly aligned with the draft Call for Action and essentially builds on the work of SBCI over the past three years. The importance of UNEP SBCI making thius submission is explainedin the words of UNEP’s senior advisor on environmental law and conventions, Dr Kilaparti Ramakrishna, as follows:
"The reason for sending a text at all is that not a SINGLE suggestion (on the Bali Action Plan) from the Parties, including agencies and observers, covered the building sector."
I believe that we can take pride in having, with this submission, put in place a very important building block for the continued negotiations and for the continued work of SBCI. Many thanks to all of you for your help and continued support.
Niclas Svenningsen, SBCI Secretariat
STAFF CHANGES @ SBCI
WELCOME – Donna McIntire
Donna McIntire joins us from the US Department of State where she was managing the greening of US Embassies globally. She will focus on the Buildings and Climate Change agenda, but will assume overall management of SBCI from 30th May. Donna’s international experience and demonstrated commitment to sustainable buildings will add important capacity to SBCI.
Peter Graham will also be moving form the role of SBCI Coordinator, in order to take responsibility for delivering SBCI’s technical content and output. In particular he will be continuing the development of the SBC Index and performance guidelines for sustainable buildings, and the Buildings and Climate Change summary for decision-makers and country base-line emissions reports due to be released in September. He will be based at the University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia from early July.
The Year Ahead
New Staff: SBCI gains a new full-time senior staff member next year to bring added capacity to the Buildings and Climate Change focus area and to work with the Sustainable U.N. team on the greening of the U.N. We have also secured new project funding (SUSHI) for sustainable buildings guidelines and demonstration projects in Sao Paulo, Brazil and Bangkok, Thailand. We are also gaining greater profile through our work on buildings and climate change and CDM.
SBC Round Tables in India:
SBCI will hold a round-table on sustainable buildings & construction in India as a side-event of the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit on 4/2/09. This also follows the Marrakech Task Force round tables on 2-3 Feb and therefore allows us to link closely to the Marrakech process. The meeting will also be used to initiate two new reports from India commissioned by SBCI - one a 'State of Sustainable Buildings' report and another on base-line GHG emissions and mitigation potentials from the Indian Building sector - these reports will contribute to the climate change, benchmarking and policy focus areas.
SBCI included in new International Standard on Social Responsibility:
SBCI and the Sustainable U.N. program have been included as an example of cross-sectoral initiatives for social responsibility under the new International Standard: ISO/CD 26000 Guidance on Social Responsibility. This is important because it will assist our members in reporting on their CSR activities in line with the International Standard.
SBCI's next meetings will be held in Washington DC April 15-17 2009 hosted by SBCI member the US Green Building Council.
UNEP SBCI Madrid Round Tables on Sustainable Buildings & Construction
Hosted by the City of Madrid December 2-4, the round-tables were very successful in moving our work programme forward. SBCI would like to thank SBCI member the City of Madrid for their excellent coordination and support for the event. A full meeting report can be downloaded on this website. The major outcomes from the meeting were:
Launch of the report: The Kyoto Protocol, The Cleaner Development Mechanism and the Building & Construction Sector
Launched both in Madrid at our SBCI round-table meetings and at the Poznan Conference of the Parties 'COP' 14, the report is already receiving a lot of media attention. News coverage of the release of the SBCI CDM & Buildings report at last count found about 1900 references, linking to about 120 publications and news services from all continents, almost all of them quoting more or less directly from the UNEP press release and/or the press conference & side event in Poznan. You will be able to download the report from our web-site very soon.
New COP 15 Action Plan for the Climate Change Think Tank
The re-convened Climate Change Think Tank is now working on the ambitious and essential task of reaching out to all of the country delegations currently negotiating the post-Kyoto climate agreement. No country will meet its existing commitments, let alone new ones without supporting the building sector. As we know sustainable buildings are fundamental to dealing with climate change and contributing to sustainable development. The next UNEP SBCI meetings hosted by US GBC in Washington DC 15-17 April 09 will be a crucial chance for the Building Sector to speak with one voice on the need for special strategies to be included in the next global greenhouse emissions framework.
Review of Key reports on Benchmarking and workshop on key performance indicators for sustainable buildings as contributions to the SBC Index
The UNEPs SBCI Benchmarking Think Tank process has produced its first draft reports - knowledge-base thanks to BRE, CSTB and UNEP FI and case-studies thanks to Carnegie Mellon University (we asked for a minimum of 25 and received more than 100!). The outcomes of the Delphi study by CSIRO with the first outline of the SBC Index framework will be out for comment at the end of January.
Policy Think Tank to be launched
Review of proposals for, and agreement on the formation of a policy working think tank to oversee the implementation of the policy quick-scan tool and provide strategic advice on sustainable building policies for developing countries has been reached. We hope to build a strong link to the Marrakech Task Force on SBC and members such as the World Green Building Council and CiDB through this think tank;
Policy ‘Quick-Scan Tool’ for GHG emission reductions in the building sector is in final phases and has been launched on-line for comments. This will be a core component of the 'SPoD' projects next year.
Cities & Sustainable Building round-table convened jointly with the Urban Environment Unit and UN HABITAT represented by Chief of HABITAT Shelter branch Mohamed El Sioufi. The meeting drew approximately 100 participants from cities and the building sector in Spain and internationally. We are working on the meeting outcomes now as a working paper on a possible cities and sustainable buildings focus area.
The Sustainable Social Housing Initiative (SUSHI) - will bring sustainable building practices to social housing programmes in Bankok, Thailand abd Sao Paulo, Brazil. SUSHI will develop and verify an approach for how to ensure that social housing programmes include design criteria and construction practices that support sustainable building principles
Main project outputs will be:
Methodology and tools for identifying and implementing opportunities for enhancing sustainable features in social housing programs. including template for action plans and tools for analysis of local technology supply, market demand and policy impact.
Inclusion of sustainable building features in 2-4 sustainable housing projects (project test cases) with quantified assessment of life cycle impact on resource efficiency
Local capacity building in bankok and Sao Paulo for disseminating the sustainable buildings approach to other projects/locations
UNFCCC to Prioritize Building Sector at COP 14 | read more »
At a June side event in Bonn, Germany, the UNFCCC secretariats requested UNEP-SBCI’s to assist in reviewing how to put the building sector on the agenda at the upcoming Conference of the Parties 14 in Poznan, Poland in December 2008. [...]
Latin American Ministers Resolve to Promote Sustainable Building | read more »
Latin American and Caribbean environmental ministers resolved to promote sustainable building practices in their region during a forum in January. [...]
UNEP Sustainable Consumption and Production chief Arab Hoballah met with Chinese officials in Beijing to discuss UNEP’s contribution to the post-earthquake recovery efforts June 12-13. [...]
Mission Briefs: Athens
UNEP-SBCI coordinator Peter Graham gave a presentation on SBCI to the European Insulation Manufacturer's Association general assembly in Athens, Greece May 30. Peter’s opportunity to present was timely because SBCI is seeking to attract members from the insulation industry.
Peter’s talk on benchmarking and policy tools was well received, particularly by representatives of the European Commission. Also interested by the presentation were members of the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association, an organization that has already expressed interest in joining SBCI.
The European Insulation Manufacturer’s Association has been effective in lobbying for common energy efficiency standards for buildings in Europe. Their general assembly has hosted the IEA and WBCSD as presenters in previous years.
Mission Briefs: Mexico
Peter Graham gave a presentation on SBCI at a forum for sustainable housing for the National Housing Commission of Mexico CONAVI on June 17 – 19 in Mexico City.
During the visit, Mexican agencies CONAVI, Mexico Green Building Council and UNEP Mexico Office agreed to form a network to coordinate a baseline report of building sector greenhouse emissions and targets. This regional snapshot will be included in the second edition of UNEP-SBCI report Buildings and Climate Change, due for publication early next year.
Mexico City, represented by the Secretary for Sustainable Development, expressed interest in SBCI membership, as did some regional construction and material manufacturing firms.
UNEP-SBCI may also receive a Mexican case study on the Kyoto Protocol CDM and possible Govt. support for our post-Kyoto advocacy. Our thanks to CONAVI for sponsoring UNEP-SBCI’s participation at the event. We look forward to developing a strong working relationship with them this year.
Population and economic growth in India have placed great stress on the country’s environment and resources. Increasing energy consumption in various industrial sectors (including the building sector) continues to drive India’s energy consumption toward surpassing that of China. The residential and commercial sector consumes more than 25% of the total electrical supply usage of the country and major portion of this is utilized in the buildings. Securing GDP growth while achieving higher energy efficiency is key to solving current major problems in India.
SBCI Annual Meetings Succeed in Martinique
SBCI's Annual Think Tank Round Tables, Outreach to Latin America and Caribbean Countries, and Annual General Meeting concluded successfully in Martinique on April 12th. The major outcomes of the SBCI meetings were:
Strengthening of UNEP-SBCI's advocacy for the building sector in negotiations for the post-Kyoto climate change protocols;
Further development of tools for policy development to reduce greenhouse emissions from the building sector;
Further development of methodology and process for providing a benchmarking system for measuring progress toward sustainable buildings and construction;
Agreement on the SBCI work-programme for 2008-09 and the election of a new board of directors;
Bringing key regional stakeholders together to report on opportunities for sustainable buildings and construction to help Caribbean and Latin American countries address regional challenges such as affordable and sustainable housing, resistance to natural disasters, and sustainable economic development.
A full meeting report is now being prepared and will be forwarded to you as soon as it is complete. We intend these outcomes to be catalysts for developing and refining more specific projects and programmes which will promote sustainable buildings and construction both in the Caribbean and Latin American Region and Globally.
Our sincere appreciation and thanks to the Regional Council of Martinique, Group Monplaisir, and the Government of Saint Lucia for their support and contribution to the events. Thanks also to all presenters and moderators for their efforts and to all members and partners who made the often long trip to participate.
Here's what is on our agenda for our four focus areas this year [...]
Briefing: Policies for Energy Efficient Buildings in China | read more »
China has the biggest construction volume in the world. More than ninety percent of new buildings are considered to be high life-cycle energy buildings. [...]
SBCI Meetings with the Federal Association of the Italian Regions (ITACA) | read more »
Niclas Svenningsen visited the Italian SBCI member ITACA (in late November) to meet with a number of senior local officials [...]
'Construction Counts for Climate' Side-Event at Bali COP 13 | read more »
On 7 December SBCI in cooperation with the Marrakech Task Force and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, held an official side event at the 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to UNFCCC in Bali. [...]
The EnerGAIA conference in Montpellier, hosted by the Region of Languedoc-Roussillon provided a forum for sharing experiences with energy efficiency and integrating renewable energies in Europe in general and the Mediterranean region in particular. [...]
ArcelorMittal Site Visit in Luxembourg | read more »
On the 11th December Peter Graham was invited to join a site visit of the facilities of SBCI member, ArcelorMittal in Luxembourg. He was joined by SBCI Chairman Thierry Braine-Bonnaire. The visit commenced at the ArcelorMittal (AM) Belval steel plant, a site they have occupied for more than a century. The plant produces a huge quantity of steel long products using an electric furnace process. This enables the use of 100% recycled steel as raw material. [...]
UNEP SBCI members Plasterdil, represented by M. Jean Louis CHARDENET and Architect Amelie Essesse are assisting the development of a sustainable building project in the West African country Burkina Faso. The project involves the design and construction of a Municipal Library and “Mediatheca” in the township of Pô using an innovative composite wall system that combines reinforced polystyrene wall panels with rammed earth construction.
SBCI, in partnership with the Central European University in Budapest, has undertaken a worldwide review of lessons learned from the application of different types of governmental policy tools supporting energy efficiency in buildings. The study entitled, Assessment of policy instruments for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, looked at some 80 case studies from 52 countries and evaluated the different policy tools based on their effectiveness in terms of reduction of CO2 emissions, their cost effectiveness and associated success factors. The review is a unique comparison of experiences from all parts of the world in developed and developing countries alike. The report was launched by Niclas Svenningsen at the regional conference on Sustainable Buildings SB07 Prague in September.
SUSHI
Last Update 03/12/2007 00:17:56