On 10-12 June 2014, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), together with the members and partners* of its Energy Efficiency in Buildings market transformation initiative, conducted a deep-dive workshop ("EEB Laboratory") into the barriers and enablers for more market uptake of energy efficient buildings (EEB) in Poland.
During the three days, a committee of experts made up of representatives from the WBCSD member companies and partners discussed with developers, investors, designers, engineers, facility operators and tenants in order to define the business case for investing in EEB for each stakeholder of the building value chain.
Building market actors in Poland acknowledge a nascent market for energy efficient buildings in particular in the commercial segment driven by demand from international investors and tenants. There is a general request for more evidence to substantiate the business case for energy efficient buildings, in both the private as well as public building segments.
EEB Laboratory participants agree that Poland would benefit from having a platform for public-private dialogue to promote a common vision and implementation strategy for energy efficient buildings. As a response to this call, WBCSD and its partners express their willingness to help establish an industry coalition to enhance the dialogue with the public sector and other stakeholders. This collaboration could help create the necessary market transparency and trust by raising awareness and developing a robust system for energy performance assessment.
Poland could save up to 65 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030, according to the Building Renovation Scenarios developed by the Building Performance Institute Europe (BPIE), the Institute of Environmental Economics (IEE), and the National Energy Conservation Agency (NAPE). This would be equivalent to replacing approximately one dozen mid-size coal-fired power plants.
Other proposed follow up actions from the EEB Laboratory include the development of training material for the valuation community in Poland and the evaluation of the international work on co-benefits such as health and productivity in the Polish context.
A more detailed summary and forward plan will be published shortly, assigning roles and responsibilities for further action to motivated stakeholder groups.
The EEB Laboratory in Warsaw was the third such event led by WBCSD after San Franciso and Shanghai. More EEB Laboratories will be held in developed and emerging markets around the globe in order to surface good practice examples and foster learning between metropolitan and regional markets.
"The Energy Efficiency in Buildings Laboratory aims to deliver on an action plan for achieving market transformation” says Roland Hunziker, Director Sustainable Buildings / Energy Efficiency in Buildings at WBCSD. "We conduct this type of engagement in 8-10 local building markets around the world to showcase good practice examples for replication and scale through our partner networks globally."
With the EEB Manifesto WBCSD also provides the opportunity to any building owner, developer, investor or tenant to publicly state their commitment to enhance energy efficiency in their building stock, within a self-determined scope. A practical EEB Toolkit is also freely available to help large owners or tenants and real estate management companies identify financially viable, yet ambitious, energy efficiency measures across a given building portfolio.
"In European Union, 40% of energy is used by buildings. It is our responsibility to search for solutions that will reduce this number", says Katarzyna Zawodna, President of Skanska Property Poland.
More information on the WBCSD web page
* Building Performance Institute Europe (BPIE), Construction Marketing Group (CMG), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Institute of Environmental Economics (IEE), National Energy Conservation Agency (NAPE), Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group, RenoValue, Responsible Business Forum Poland (FOB), Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), Urban Land Institute (ULI), UNEP Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative (UNEP-SBCI), WBCSD and its member companies (AGC, AkzoNobel, ArcelorMittal, GDF SUEZ, Infosys, Lafarge, Schneider Electric, SGS, Siemens, Skanska, UTC), as well as the World Green Building Council (WGBC).