Buildings already contribute more than one-third of global energy emissions and construction worldwide is booming: The global building stock is projected to double by 2060. Decisions made about the quality and type of buildings will have implications for emissions trajectories into the future, as well as for people’s day-to-day lives today. 

Given the strong role of cities in the buildings sector, countries need to establish and expand subnational-national partnerships to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance resilience across the buildings sector. Two-thirds of global urban abatement potential requires collaboration with other levels of government, yet less than 27% of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) released by 2025 contained strong urban content.

By leveraging the multilevel governance foundation of CHAMP and applying the roadmap and action plan model of the Zero Carbon Building Accelerator, the ZERB Accelerator works with national and subnational governments to jointly design high-impact multilevel actions to reduce building emissions and improve resilience. This approach fills a critical gap in collaboration and moves local and national governments closer to achieving joint goals.

Working with partner countries, the ZERB Accelerator engages both the national government and at least one subnational government (e.g., county, city, state, region, province) per country. 

An Expert Advisory Group of national and international expert organizations contribute their resources and knowledge to support partner governments through data and monitoring, reporting and verification, policy and technical support, and finance.

Partner governments identify and design at least one “high impact action,” such as identifying necessary resources and expertise, and designing a roadmap for implementation. A high-impact action for decarbonizing buildings is one that contributes to the country’s NDC while also addressing the needs of at least one subnational government.

Examples of the support ZERB partner governments receive include:

  • Baselining and estimating mitigation potential of various multilevel actions.
  • Reporting progress through existing measurement, reporting and verification tools.
  • Guiding and facilitating progress through project preparation and subnational-national integration to secure access to private, public, national and international sources of finance.
  • Sharing the latest technical advice based on good practices, research and experience.

The ZERB Accelerator currently works in Colombia, with the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, the city of Cali and the municipality of Valledupar, on the implementation, enforcement and reporting of Resolution 0194. It also works in Kenya, with the State Department of Public Works, the Council of Governors and Kisumu County, on the National Decarbonization Roadmap for Buildings and Construction and the National Green Building Standards.

The ZERB Accelerator is a global initiative implemented by WRI, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and the Under2 Coalition, and funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies. It is part of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction.

Cover image by Kevin Ochieng/WRI/ICLEI