Building Efficiency Accelerator

Project site: buildingefficiencyaccelerator.org

WRI Ross Center’s Buildings Initiative leads the Building Efficiency Accelerator (BEA) partnership in support of the United Nations Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) initiative. The BEA is a public-private collaboration that turns global expertise into action to accelerate local government implementation of building efficiency policies and programs.

Achieving Sustainable Energy for All by 2030

SEforALL exists to meet a dual challenge: reducing the carbon intensity of energy while making it available to everyone on the planet. Launched in 2011 by former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, SEforALL has three interlinked objectives to be achieved by 2030:

1. Ensure universal access to modern energy services
2. Double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency
3. Double the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix

The Global Energy Efficiency Accelerator Platform was established to support specific sector-based energy efficiency accelerators, including Lighting, Appliances & Equipment, Vehicle Fuel Efficiency, Buildings, District Energy, and Industry.

Why Buildings?

Buildings are responsible for one-third of global energy demand and one-quarter of global GHG emissions.

Global building energy demand can be reduced by one-third by 2050 if known energy efficiency best-practices are implemented on a large scale across regions. The major barriers to efficient buildings are institutional and behavioral rather than technical or financial. The BEA aims to break down these barriers by increasing global and cross-sector collaboration.

What the BEA Can Offer

The BEA global partnership is designed to complement existing networks of cities by facilitating access to global expertise in building efficiency topics and providing a venue for engagement with private sector partners. The BEA process of engagement in a city includes guidance and technical advice to:

• Assess and prioritize locally-appropriate building efficiency policies and actions
• Implement actions, matching city needs with available expertise, technical resources and tools
• Track action and documenting progress, and share lessons learned
• Increase ambition for improving the overall efficiency of the building stock

The BEA engages with cities based on the needs of the city and the activities that the partnership can provide in each location. Cities will prioritize policies and activities, and the partnership will connect them to technical resources and engagement opportunities around those priorities.

To learn more about the Building Efficiency Accelerator, click here.