At a Welcome Ceremony for new countries on December 11th, 2018 in the French Pavilion at COP24, Ms Brune Poirson, French State Secretary to the Minister for Ecological and Inclusive Transition and Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter German State Secretary to the Federal Ministry of Environment, Natural Conservation and Nuclear Safety welcomed testimonials on the importance of energy efficiency in buildings from existing members of the GlobalABC, an initiative launched at COP21 as part of the Lima Paris Action Agenda, and the PEEB, a global joint French-German initiative to promote energy efficiency in buildings, on a large scale.
Both GlobalABC and PEEB partners recognize that progress towards a zero-emission, efficient and resilient buildings and construction sector is essential to achieving the targets of the Paris Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals as well as the targets of the New Urban Agenda as set by the United Nations. Progress towards sustainable buildings and construction is made, but improvements are still not keeping up with the increases in floor space. To be on track to meet global climate ambitions set forth in the Paris Agreement, energy intensity per square meter of the global buildings sector needs to improve on average by 30% by 2030 (compared to 2015).
The GlobalABC aims to mobilise all stakeholders, including member states and non-state actors from the Buildings and Construction sector to scale up climate actions in the sector. The PEEB was initiated jointly by France and Germany and is catalysed by the GlobalABC. The PEEB promotes innovative solutions, supports countries’ public policy-making, builds the required capacities, and assists the development and delivery of policy measures and investments in energy-efficient buildings. PEEB also supports its partners to mobilise additional financial resources for relevant investment projects.
The following partners signed a letter of interest to cooperate with PEEB:
The Ministry for Environment and Sustainable Development of the Republic of Ivory Coast represented by His Excellency Professor Joseph séka SEKA, Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development who emphasized how the PEEB and GlobalABC memberships might allow Côte d’Ivoire to achieve two of the main objectives of its Nationally Determined Contributions:
- The development of national regulation pertaining to the energy efficiency of buildings
- The training of all actors of the building value chain on the construction of low energy buildings.
The Ministry of Energy responsible for natural resources of the Republic of Djibouti, represented at the event by Mr. Dini Omar, General Secretary of the Ministry of Habitat, Urbanism and Environment underlined the relevance of partnering with GlobalABC and PEEB to lower the energy bill both for households and private companies.
Nigeria, which is a country with a rapidly growing building sector, through the Ministry for Power, Works and Housing, expressed its interest through a letter to partner with PEEB. The Federal Republic of Nigeria considers energy efficiency as a key factor for ensuring the sustainable, affordable and reliable development of the energy sector.