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094 SMART CITIESGBCs are helping countries to develop “national renovation strategies’’ in each of the 13 participating countries, which could serve as a blueprint for other European nations. BUILD UPON has begun convening a major policy dialogue process with over 1,000 organisations involved in renovation. It is already having a major impact, with the project having been disseminated to over 120,000 people and the launch of one of its key tools, the RenoWiki, an online portal showcasing over 600 building renovation initiatives from across Europe. It is these concrete policies and programme actions that will spark the retrofit revolution we need to reach 2 degrees. WorldGBC and our GBCs are not acting alone – we are continuously inspired and driven by the tremendous leadership of the 27,000 corporate members of GBCs around the world. For COP21, over 125 of GBCs’ corporate members set ambitious climate action targets, including members of WorldGBC’s own Corporate Advisory Board. GBCs have been actively supporting these commitments since Paris. For example, the UK Green Building Council will soon report the results of its Sustainability 360 reviews to each of its Gold Leaf members on suggested areas of improvement and “best practices’’ to follow from other market leaders to enable them to meet their commitments as quickly as possible. I personally am excited and inspired by the tremendous momentum created by the green building movement, particularly since Buildings Day. But I also know that we must work beyond the “usual suspects’’ in the green building world, as we must do much more, and much faster. The Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (Global ABC), formed by France, UNEP and by WorldGBC (among other partners including RICS, WBCSD and GBPN), will help us reach a broader and powerful audience. Now comprised of 20 countries, 17 organisations and 10 companies, the Alliance met for the first time in April and agreed – in line with WorldGBC’s own COP21 commitments – to focus collectively on retrofitting existing buildings and driving the uptake of net zero carbon buildings. The Global ABC is also looking to BUILD UPON’s processes of identifying key players and bringing them together to align and join-up efforts. The Alliance will examine some of the project’s tools to see how it can better ensure that global initiatives on reducing emissions from buildings are not being pursued in isolation and are more coordinated, leveraging a greater impact. But how specifically will we create green buildings “ RAPID ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY MEAN BUILDINGS ARE NOW CAPABLE OF LEARNING AND ANTICIPATING THE NEEDS AND BEHAVIOURS OF BUILDING USERS ”Photo Credit: Ronald Tilleman
