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Action on buildings benefits people and planet. This vision marked the Buildings and Climate Global Forum that took place on 7-8, March 8, in Paris, with the adoption of the “Chaillot Declaration”. The buildings and construction sector represent over a fifth of global GHG emissions, according to the latest Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction, released last week by UNEP and the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC). The Forum was an inedit gathering of ministries responsible for construction from 70 countries and 1400 global actors from the buildings industry, international, and civil society organizations to tackle buildings decarbonization and resilience. PEEB participated actively, sharing its experience as a frontrunner in the implementation of the climate and buildings agenda and fostering ambitious commitments towards achieving Paris Agreement and Buildings Breakthrough goals.

PEEB at the Forum – from development banks to housing and renovation

Scaling up finance, renovation, housing, resilience: PEEB's experience featured in pre-forum gatherings and the forum’s official programme, including technical sessions, high-level dialogues, and the closing session. The Forum offered the PEEB team and partners a unique opportunity of face-to-face interaction: the PEEB Med team engaged with Mediterranean region actors, while an implementers workshop for PEEB Cool brought together team members from Indonesia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, and Tunisia.

PEEB's work on mobilizing development banks for sustainable buildings delivered a key contribution to the Buildings Breakthrough Finance agenda: a call for the creation of a coalition of development banks for sustainable buildings. In concluding the Forum, IDFC's Secretary-General Nicolas Picchiotino and Agence Française de Development (AFD) Deputy Director-General, Betrand Walckenaer wrapped up the proceedings alongside France’s Minister for the Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu, announcing the next gathering of development banks at the Finance in Common Summit next October in China. 

Closing Ceremony of the Buildings and Climate Global Forum on 8 March . Credit: Christophe Rousse/10 billion solutions

Development Banks on the move: scaling up finance through increased cooperation

PEEB and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), in collaboration with the International Development Finance Club (IDFC), organized two events to put green and resilient buildings at the centre of the development finance agenda.

The outcomes of a workshop with development banks on 6 March at the AFD headquarters informed the Forum session "Financing green buildings for sustainable development - How development banks can scale up action", on 7 March. The role of development banks in supporting the establishment of markets via tools, methodologies, indicators, and engagement in transformation of enabling frameworks was emphasized by speakers from AFD, Caisse de dépôt et de gestion du Maroc, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), the International Finance Corporation, the Jordan Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Fund (JREEEF), the World Bank, and Shelter Afrique.

Manelle Ait Sahlia, Deputy Head of the Energy Division at AFD, recounted how PEEB played this role and successfully mainstreamed energy efficiency in Buildings across different AFD technical sectors. Participants agreed that this kind of transformation needs to happen across governments and development finance institutions on a global level.

From left to right: Ana Campos Garcia (World Bank), Thierno Habib-Hann (Shelter Afrique), Lutz Morgenstern (BMWK), Manelle Ait Sahlia (AFD), Rasmi Hamzeh (Jordan Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Fund - JREEEF), Ghizlaine Nourlil (Caisse de Depots et Gestion du Marco), Jamie Fergusson (IFC), and Anna Zinecker (PEEB/GIZ) at the “Financing green buildings for sustainable development - How development banks can scale up action" on March 07 at the Buildings and Climate Global Forum in Paris. Credit: Lucía Vásquez Tumi/10 Billion Solutions

Therefore, the call for a coalition of development banks for buildings and climate was welcomed as leap forward in the second day of the forum. Key issues identified to scale up green buildings portfolios were strong collaboration. Read more on our Development Banks workshop article.

PEEB Cool launch: boosting sustainable buildings in 11 countries

From left to right: Yves Laurent Sapoval (Ministère de la Transition Écologique et de la Cohésion des Territoires), Lutz Morgenstern (BMWK), and Manelle Ait-Sahlia (AFD). Credit: Lucía Vásquez Tumi/10 Billion Solutions

Following the development banks event, the PEEB Cool was launch offered an example of what a strong cooperation for implementation of the buildings and climate agenda can achieve. A 230,5 million EUR budget, funded by the Green Climate Fund, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), AFD, and the French Fund for the Global Environment (Fonds Français pour l’Environnement Mondial, FFEM), will scale up PEEB’s financial tools in addition to the tried and tested formula of combining project assistance and enabling frameworks.

Promoting a buildings lifecycle approach in the Mediterranean region

From left to right: Maged Mahmoud (Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency), Roberta Boniotti (Mediterranean Association of National Agencies for Energy Management), Agathe Lacombe (MeetMED), Marge Barradas Machin (TERAO), Juliette Jestin (PEEB/AFD). Credit: Christophe Rousse/10 Billion Solutions

In the session “Sustainable Construction in the Euro-Mediterranean Region“, convened by the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean, PEEB Med Programme Officer Juliette Jestin, representatives of UfM member states, and MeetMED experts discussed enabling frameworks and financial schemes for sustainable buildings in the region.

Juliette Jestin shared insights from technical support in energy efficiency for the development and extension of the Saint Joseph hospital in the Palestinian territories. To meet healthcare needs of the population, health infrastructure in the region will need to be developed to withstand changing climatic conditions such as heatwaves and cyclones. PEEB Med supports a shift to overall cost approach in the buildings lifecycle to reduce barriers to investment.

Local solutions for global challenges: housing renovation in Mexico

In the event "Renovation of the Building Stock at scale", PEEB Mexico's Liliana Campos showed how PEEB increased impact in Mexico by tailoring financial instruments to end-user needs. Mexican social housing faces the challenge of high costs associated with energy-efficient renovation.

PEEB supported the development of a staged whole-house approach: different packages with different levels of energy efficiency performance were created to match the financial capacity of final consumers. This approach was scaled up to more than 7.300 homes, improving the lives of 29.500 people and saving 8.850 tCO2.

Liliana Campos Arriaga speaks at the session “Renovation of the Building Stock at scale” on 7 March. Credit: Lucía Vásquez Tumi/10 Billion Solutions