Improving the energy efficiency of the global building supply chain industry and its products to deliver high performance buildings

UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre is going to work on:

1. Development of life cycle processes to maintain performance over time (data gathering and reporting and maintenance best practices) and to track and recover materials upon decommissioning (circular economy and anthropogenic resource management).

UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre will work with other international and local partners to develop an overall material/ product life cycle process starting from the material extraction, manufacture, packaging+transport, use and demolition/recycling phases. To assess the material/product performance over a life cycle, UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre will develop a guidance and methodology to evaluate performance during every life cycle phase. The performance assessment for every phase is going to be evaluated taking into consideration potential 3 key indicators as:

A) Consumed energy per material/product unit,

B) Environmental impact as CO2 emissions per material/product unit,

C) Anthropogenic impact:

• Resource Potential: Quantity, Location, Temporary availability, Accessibility, Quantity.
• Utilisation Potential: Regulatory Barriers, Health and Safety Concerns, Supply Security, Quality and Markets, Public Acceptance, Comparability with Natural Resources.
• Recovery Potential: Technical Feasibility, Infrastructure, Legal Framework, Economic Viability, Environmental Impacts, Social Impacts. The consolidated result of performances per every phase is expected to show the final overall material performance per life cycle.
  The work will be enhanced over time through data mining, case studies, best practices, experience sharing, as well as regional collaboration for the specific cases of materials with supply chains covering multiple countries.

2. Implement pilot projects demonstrating the application of the best practice recommendations of Work package 1 in conjunction with learnings from training and technical assistance programmes throughout the building sector supply chain.

In this Activity, based on the recommendations of Work Package 1 and the training activities, UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre will work closely with local partners to assess the benefits and feasibilities of potential pilot projects to be implemented and will select a most favourable and viable pilot project for the implementation and demonstration through the different phases of the supply chain of various building materials and products. The demonstration will focus on the most suitable local technology options with high potential for local implementation.

3.  Assessment of market and financing mechanisms to support the introduction of new energy and resource-efficient products into the value chain and development of a roadmap to support their implementation.

Under this Activity, UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre, together with the local partners, plans to assess the existing market of materials and products through their all life cycle phases and will identify potential barriers to introduce and promote a new energy and resource-efficient products and materials  into the value chain and will identify the strategy, necessary, means, next steps and potential Business Model to develop market overcoming identified barriers. Based on the long-term targets, the Activity will develop a roadmap, including short (2030), medium (2040), and long-term (2050) targets and actions to support the further replication and implementation. These activities will be done  in consultation with the local partners and in alignment with UN SDG and the climate targets for 2050.

4.  Recommendation and demonstration of mechanisms for market and building performance monitoring.

This Activity will be based on UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre’s strong expertise in the transparency and MRV of energy efficiency and climate actions. It will be based on international guidelines and best practices of market and building performance monitoring, identifying the potential key performance indicators to assess the building performance rate, trainings and capacity building for national institutions and experts, and demonstration at small scale implementation.

5.  Support development of pilot projects (including examination of financing options) in cooperation with governments of beneficiary countries, financial institutions and companies.

UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre’s support will include working with the local partners as national and local government bodies, academic and research institutions, financial institutions and other potential local partners as construction or building materials/products manufacturers to identify the pilot projects’ technical and spatial scopes, the possibilities of bundling different already ongoing and new activities into one project for scaling up and increase of bankability, to assess the business models and financing options to get the pilot project financed and implemented.

6.  Targeted outreach and communication campaigns on priority actions and policy measures for decarbonizing buildings.

The Activity will include development of relevant dissemination, outreach and communication materials, including conferences and webinars, newsletters, website messages, and social media card feeds, materials for online events and disseminating them through various suitable channels. The campaigns will focus on priority actions and policy measures and will target building materials, products and construction developers and users, national and local energy, climate, building authorities, urban planners, industrial associations for building materials and constructors, research institutions, societies of architects, and relevant building buyers and users. The different campaigns will be designed in consultation with the local partners, and will also monitor their engagement level (KPI as target audience groups reached, the volume of reached audience, the average time spent in webpage, etc.), assessment of feedback from audience to improve further campaign activities.