Cities are the engines for growth around the world, yet they also generate nearly 40 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Chinese cities generate some 70 percent of the country’s carbon emissions, one-third of which is from energy to power, cool and heat large buildings. Buildings also have a large (36 percent) carbon footprint in the United States.
The world cannot solve the climate crisis without reducing and greening energy in buildings and successful efforts by China and the United States to accelerate building energy efficiency would be a decarbonization game changer.
Clay Nesler (WRI) will kick off this panel highlighting trends in building energy efficiency that can be pathways to zero carbon buildings in the United States and China. Carolyn Szum (LBNL) will dive deep into the evolution of building energy efficiency benchmarking and analysis tools to speed decarbonization of existing buildings in China and the United States. Jing Hou (China Association of Building Energy Efficiency) will introduce some work by C40 Cities to carry out energy efficiency pilots in Chinese cities. She will also discuss how energy efficiency buildings fit into China’s carbon neutrality goals and what that means for the building sector.
