Today the inception workshop of the preparation phase of “Improving the energy efficiency of the global building supply chain industry and its products to deliver high performance buildings” project, funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) Germany was launched in a hybrid format.

The project is aimed at developing a strong foundation of proven best practice methods and focused technical capacity that beneficiary countries of the project can build upon to improve building energy performance and reduce embodied carbon and energy to support their development and achievement of enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) targets.

With UNECE as the lead agency for implementation of the project, the inception workshop was attended by high level representatives from 7 beneficiary countries - Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, as well as from the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), RA Urban Development Committee, RA Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, Ministry of Economy, UNDP in Georgia, UNDP in Armenia, GIZ, World Bank, Yerevan Municipality, individual and UNDP in Armenia experts of the field, participants from private sector, academia and higher education institutions.

Mr. Davit Grigoryan, the First Deputy of the Urban Development Committee, welcomed the participants of the workshop, emphasizing the crucial role of energy efficiency in building sector in terms of environmental, infrastructure, economic and energy saving aspects and expressed the strong commitment of the Urban Committee of Republic of Armenia to build on the continuous cooperation with UNDP in Armenia and line ministries to further improve the low carbon transformation of the building sector supply chain to foster complete lifecycle performance of buildings.

Stressing the importance and ambitious aspect of the project, Mr. Dario Liguti, Director, Sustainable Energy Division UNECE, thanked the Armenian Government for hosting this event and UNDP in Armenia for organizing the event and expressed hope for a fruitful discussion and building close cooperation between all the beneficiary countries to develop their relevant public and private sector capacities to ensure the long-term replication and upscaling of the project activities.  

“Buildings consume the 40 percent of energy globally, emitting a large amount of CO2 and other GHG emissions. Recently we have published a report on the status progress of Paris Agreement objectives and on Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 for UNECE region, with a special focus on SDG 7 – affordable and clean energy, namely on the measures’ advancement towards SDG7 and although there is a substantial progress, unfortunately it has slowed down and we are lacking behind of set goals and therefore such kind of project is very important to support, to accelerate the decarbonization of our economic systems. Hence, we should go closely hand in hand to limit the emissions from building infrastructure as the key emitter sector.

Natia Natsvlishvili, the Resident Representative of UNDP in Armenia, welcomed the launch of the preparation phase of such an important project, essential for local needs in energy saving and energy efficiency.

 “Energy efficiency measures are imperative for clean and green economic development to be accompanied by justness and sustainability. This implies protection of environment, energy efficiency, and conservation of natural resources. So, we have to work carefully and closely in this direction, especially in building sector, and UNDP in Armenia is working extensively on this through a number of projects. Our researches demonstrates that energy efficiency in buildings can reduce energy consumption by up to 60 percent and these facts are evidence based. Insulation in residential building brings also a better quality of life to people living in them. In the scope of our collaboration with the Armenia’s Government we have achieved key results, via close cooperation with the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, Urban Development Committee, Yerevan municipality. Hence, together we are stronger and let us work forward to future impressive results.

Welcoming remarks from Dr. Lutz Morgenstern, Head of Division, Strategic Issues of International Cooperation on Climate & Energy, Implementing Initiatives, from Directorate International Climate Action and Energy Transition, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action of Germany, focused on highlighting the objectives, the ambitious targets and the expected results of the project.

Afterwards, the project background, goals and desired outcomes and potential impact of the project were presented by Mr. Igor Litvinyuk, Programme Officer, Energy Efficiency, UNECE.

Furthermore, the beneficiary countries presented their cases and national circumstances and statuses on energy efficiency measures, bringing to attention the assessment of their current needs and expressing their expectations from the project.

The second session of the workshop was devoted to the discussion of issues related to project management and governance, namely roles and responsibilities of beneficiary countries, project communication channels and information sharing, budget allocations, risk management and project evaluation.

Agreement was reached on the next steps towards the key points of discussion․ Questions and concerns of the beneficiary countries, key recommendations, setting of the timeline of the follow-up actions made the summary of the workshop.

The AGENDA and PRESENTATIONS delivered at the event could be found HERE.