On November 20, Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency (C2E2) and World Resource Institute (WRI) co-organised the Building Efficiency Accelerator Round Table as part of the 3rd Liveable Cities Symposium in Istanbul, Turkey.
The Round Table gathered local representatives of public, private and civil sectors, as well as academia, with the aim to discuss needs and gaps for green and efficiency building policies in Turkey and introduce the Building Efficiency Accelerator (BEA) of Sustainable Energy for All as a collaborative opportunity for the local government.
The event started with the opening speech of Prof. Dr. Pinar Menguc from the Center of Energy, Environment and Economy, Ozyegin University, in which he emphasized the importance of green buildings for Turkey, especially taking into account rapidly developing urban areas in the country.
Jennifer Layke from WRI Sustainable Cities, presented a variety of opportunities and policy instruments in the building sector, which can be utilised in order to improve its energy efficiency. Mrs. Layke provided examples from various cities on how energy efficiency strategies have been incorporated into their policy development.
Ksenia Petrichenko from C2E2 introduced Sustainable Energy for All initiative and Global Efficiency Accelerator Platform as one of the ways for the local governments to access international expertise and engage in collaborative work, committing to improve energy efficiency through policies and actions in their jurisdictions.
The key part of the Round Table was the interactive exercise with the participants through utilisation of WRI’s Building Efficiency Policy Assessment Tool. Using the Tool’s methodology the participants assessed the current status, as well as importance and difficulty of implementing 8 policy instruments for enhancing energy efficiency in buildings (e.g. Building Codes and standards, targets, financial incentives, utility programs, information instruments, etc.). The exercise showed that while there are some energy efficiency policies already in place in Turkey (e.g. building performance regulations and targets), further efforts are required in order to improve their effectiveness, ensure enforcement and compliance, as well as to introduce new instruments, especially related to financial incentives and schemes.
The Round Table was concluded by a lively discussion, during which the participants expressed their views on the key challenges and the potential ways forward in the field of building energy efficiency in the country.