[COP22] Building Day and the road to net-zero

From 7 to 18 November, 2016, countries will be attending the 22nd UN Framework for Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties – known as COP22 - in Marrakech, Morocco. WorldGBC will be attending alongside a number of Green Building Councils, WorldGBC partners, and numerous Green Building Council members.

Following COP21 first Building Day held on December 3rd 2015, the second Building Day was help on November 10th 2016. 

What progress has WorldGBC, and its Green Building Councils, made against commitments announced at COP22?

At COP21, WorldGBC - together with its Green Building Council and their members - made the high level commitment to reduce 84 gigatonnes of CO2 (GtC02) from buildings by 2050. We committed to do so through net zero carbon buildings and the energy efficient refurbishment of our existing building stock.

WorldGBC has launched its Advancing Net Zero project which aims to ensure that all buildings are net zero carbon by 2050.

WorldGBC also moved ahead to the public phase of the European BUILD UPON project, the world’s largest collaborative project on building renovation. To date, over 1,000 key stakeholders in building renovation have been engaged, with 50 out of 80 workshops already taken place across Europe.

A number of GBCs have reported progress made on their commitments since COP21. All of these updates, and the original commitments, will be found on this page of the Better Build Green website.

What is WorldGBC’s Advancing Net Zero project doing?

There are two key goals under the project:

1. All new buildings and major renovations should be net zero starting in 2030 (meaning no buildings should be built below net zero standards beyond 2030). 100% of buildings should be net zero by 2050

2. 75,000 professionals will be trained on net zero building by 2030, and 300,000 by 2050.

10 Green Building Councils have already signed up to the project (from an initial three) including Association HQE-France GBC, committing to implement net zero certification (or designation) schemes in their countries, and to train green building professionals in net zero building principles.