TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Path to Paris: Building green
As the world is moving to implement the Paris Agreement, we are making slow but steady progress on incorporating renewable sources of energy into the global economy.
Change Size
Climate crisis: Demonstrators protest President Donald Trump's decision to exit the Paris climate change accord on June 2 in Chicago, Illinois. Yesterday, in a speech from the Rose Garden, Trump announced that the United States would no longer honor the agreement, stating it imposed unfair standards on American businesses and workers.
(Getty Images North America/AFP/Scott Olson)
A
s the world is moving to implement the Paris Agreement, we are making slow but steady progress on incorporating renewable sources of energy into the global economy. However, with population growth, urbanization and a burgeoning middle class, the demand for energy continues to outpace our ability to change our energy mix, resulting in rising greenhouse gas emissions. The only way to achieve the goals of Paris is to bend the demand curve for energy through increased energy efficiency.
According to the International Energy Agency, buildings account for 36 percent of final global energy use and more than 55 percent of electricity demand. To meet two-degree Celsius scenario targets, average building energy use per person globally needs to fall by at least 10 percent by 2025. Getting on that trajectory through energy savings in buildings can help us achieve the double bottom line of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while meeting the development requirements of fast growing economies.
To accomplish a true transformation of building practices, we must demonstrate a clear business case for building green based upon widely agreed standards and practices that is strongly linked to resource efficiency and reduced emissions.
At the International Finance Corporation (IFC), we have years of experience at setting environmental, social, and corporate governance standards that have been adopted globally. The IFC “Equator Principles” have been applied across export credit, development finance, and project finance markets.
