From efficient buildings to sustainable cities in 8 action steps

Accelerating Building Efficiency: Eight Actions for Urban Leaders, produced by the World Resources Institute in collaboration with the Global Environment Facility (GEF), provides local governments and other urban leaders around the world with the background, guidance, and tools to accelerate building efficiency action in their communities.

Efficient buildings—those that make highly productive use of natural resources—are vital to achieving sustainable development. They align economic, social, and environmental opportunities, and help build better cities.

More efficient buildings have benefits for both people and the planet. With buildings responsible for 32 percent of global energy consumption and a quarter of CO2 emissions, there is a huge, under-tapped opportunity to create more sustainable cities through building efficiency. More efficient buildings can create economic benefits, reduce environmental impacts and improve people’s quality of life.

The work on the report was done under the Building Efficiency Initiative, a part of the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities that engages partners, policymakers, and practitioners to support accelerated building efficiency action in cities around the world.

This initiative provides practical resources to help cities succeed with policies, technologies, and innovative investment strategies to deliver better buildings, cleaner air, and more efficient urban development.

As one of the partners and funders of the initiative, the GEF is proud of the success achieved to date, and is committed to working with policymakers to build a bridge from business-as-usual investments to innovative transactions that will create the sustainable buildings of the future.

 “Sub-national jurisdictions have both the authority and the appropriate policy levers to build better, more efficient buildings, and direct budgets and investment to them, contributing to more livable cities.

All GEF country partners are prioritizing energy efficiency and are especially concerned about improving efficiency in buildings in fast growing urban centers. This new resource helps guide and instruct, leading to more cost effective and more successful interventions. We will be encouraging all our partners to study this publication carefully as we stand ready to help advance building efficiency in cities around the world.