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There are so many exciting initiatives and achievements delivered by Green Building Councils and Regional Networks that it can be hard to stay on top of them all! Here you will find the latest news and media related to the Europe Regional Network and its Green Building Councils.
Media
news
WorldGBC to participate in UN Race to Zero Dialogues
Wed, 11th Nov 2020WorldGBC will give a presentation as part of the United Nations’ Race to Zero Dialogues
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news
WorldGBC reacts to Renovation Wave announcement
Thu, 15th Oct 2020WorldGBC reacts to European Commission's Renovation Wave announcement
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news
WorldGBC to help lead EU Sustainable Finance work
Thu, 1st Oct 2020The World Green Building Council has been appointed to the EU’s new Sustainable Finance advisory body.
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publication
Buildings and Energy: A brochure of the ÖGNI working group
Mon, 4th May 2020This brochure offers decision-makers in the real estate and energy industries, as well as urban and municipal developers, a broad overview of the topics of decentralised energy generation and supply.
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press
European cities commit to net zero buildings
Wed, 4th Dec 2019Today leading European cities and companies pledged to slash carbon emissions from their buildings to net zero. Helsinki, Finland and Valladolid, Spain have signed WorldGBC's Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment, alongside property sector leaders BuroHappold, Carbon Credentials, Deerns, Grimshaw Architects, Grosvenor Group, Newsec Finland and Ylva.
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publication
ÖGNI Position Paper: Social Sustainability
Fri, 1st Nov 2019In cooperation with an expert group, the ÖGNI (Austrian Sustainable Building Council) has defined standards for measuring the social sustainability of buildings and identifies three focal points: Holistic view of the neighborhood, operation of buildings and flexibility.
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publication
ÖGNI Position Paper: Benchmarks in Operation
Fri, 1st Nov 2019The ÖGNI Position Paper: Benchmarks in Operation outlines how sustainability can only be achieved through sensible, efficient building operation; and proves that sustainability and efficient operation go hand in hand.
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publication
ÖGNI Position Paper: Smart Cities
Fri, 1st Nov 2019Although the term "Smart City" is widely used, a clear definition is still missing. This ÖGNI position paper aims to clarify ÖGNI's position on Smart Cities, make the term Smart Cities more specific for urban development stakeholders, support and guide urban developers in their attempts to implement the Smart City concept and develop a basis for the certification of Smart Cities.
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news
Built environment stakeholders recommend integration of whole life carbon criteria into European policy
Tue, 8th Oct 2019Today a coalition of over 30 organisations working in the buildings and construction sector have signed an open letter to the European Commission outlining their view on the transformative potential that the Level(s) framework can play in mainstreaming sustainable buildings and deliver on key European environmental, economic and social goals.
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blog
Will a common vision for the global building sector make the world more sustainable?
Thu, 26th Sep 2019A roadmap for the building and construction sector in Norway to achieve a common vision of zero emissions and a full circular economy in 2050 has sparked action to address both operational and embodied carbon emissions from buildings.
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news
WorldGBC Europe publishes advocacy manifesto urging decision makers to recognise vital role of built environment sector in delivering a climate neutral Europe
Thu, 27th Jun 2019Over 20 countries from WorldGBC's Europe Regional Network have published a manifesto, A Sustainable Built Environment at the Heart of Europe’s Future urging decision makers to recognise the vital role that the built environment sector plays in delivering a climate neutral Europe.
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publication
Creating an Energy Efficient Mortgage for Europe: The Supporting Role of the Green Building Sector
Wed, 19th Jun 2019The report Creating an Energy Efficient Mortgage for Europe: The Supporting Role of the Green Building Sector sets out a roadmap to grow the market for green mortgages - with the potential to transform millions of buildings across Europe.
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blog
Collaboration, Consensus & Change: Three C’s for Circularity
Thu, 13th Jun 2019WorldGBC Europe's Head of Projects Stephen Richardson demystifies how to achieve circularity in the built environment and outlines how European Green Building Councils are taking measures to close the loop for buildings and construction.
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blog
Wake up, air ranger! How citizens can catalyse government action on air pollution
Wed, 12th Jun 2019Dutch Green Building Council's Jan Kadijk outlines how citizen 'air rangers' can take action on air pollution by measuring their local air quality, prompting governments to enact policies to tackle air quality - and the opportunity this presents for Green Building Councils.
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press
BUILD UPON2 - Boosting low carbon building renovation across Europe
Thu, 23rd May 2019In conjunction with the URBAN FUTURE Global Conference in Oslo, the World Green Building Council and partners announce BUILD UPON2 - a project that will accelerate the renovation of existing buildings in European cities.
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news
UK Green Building Council presents industry framework for net zero carbon buildings
Tue, 30th Apr 2019Under the global Advancing Net Zero program, UKGBC has developed a framework definition for net zero carbon buildings to provide industry with clarity on how to achieve net zero carbon in construction and operation.
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news
WorldGBC urges pragmatic approach to EU taxonomy
Tue, 5th Mar 2019On 22 February, WorldGBC Europe responded to a consultation from the technical expert group on sustainable finance (TEG) on the development of the 'taxonomy' - an EU-wide classification system for environmentally sustainable economic activities.
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news
Ramboll brings leading sustainable design expertise to World Green Building Council's Europe Network
Thu, 21st Feb 2019Ramboll has entered into a new partnership with the World Green Building Council’s Europe Network as its first engineering partner, to collaborate on driving sustainability and innovation across Europe’s building sector.
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news
Green Building Councils urge European Commission to recognise unparalleled potential of the built environment sector in delivering a climate neutral Europe
Wed, 12th Dec 2018Today, as European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Miguel Arias Cañete outlines the European Commission’s vision for a climate neutral Europe at COP24, over 20 countries from WorldGBC's Europe Regional Network have signed an open letter urging the European Commission to recognise the vital role of the built environment sector in delivering this vision.
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blog
COP24: Time to address the building and construction sector’s total emissions impact
Thu, 6th Dec 2018As nations all over the globe tackle operational emissions from buildings, we must challenge ourselves to address our sector’s total emissions impact if we are to deliver a truly net zero carbon building stock. COP24 must mark the beginning of a major global campaign to take on this challenge - one on which Europe must lead the world.
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news
Green Building Council Iceland joins World Green Building Council network
Thu, 1st Nov 2018This week, Green Building Council Iceland became the newest member of the World Green Building Council, joining at the Prospective level of membership.
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blog
How to Make Money from Climate-Proofing Your Property
Thu, 27th Sep 2018In this exclusive blog for World Green Building Week 2018, WorldGBC's James Drinkwater and Judit Kimpian of the Architects Council of Europe explain how ‘green mortgages’ and value adding extensions could be a winning combination.
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press
New Report Sets Out How Mortgage Lenders Can Protect Borrowers from the Financial Risks of Climate Change
Mon, 24th Sep 2018Today, WorldGBC launched a new report setting out a vision for how mortgage lenders and borrowers can come together to help tackle climate change by improving millions of properties across Europe. The report calls on lenders, industry and government to grow a new mass market for energy efficient mortgages and make them available to every borrower on the continent.
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blog
Workplace transformation: How Polish GBC is inspiring a nation of green & healthy offices
Thu, 9th Aug 2018Polish GBC’s latest research proves the indisputable link between buildings and their users’ health, productivity and wellbeing, helping strengthen the business case for green and healthy offices - and Poland is now listening, blogs Alicja Kuczera.
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press
Major European banks launch new green mortgage scheme
Thu, 14th Jun 2018Today, the (WorldGBC) Europe network and 37 major European banks launched a new energy efficiency mortgage pilot scheme, marking a major signal from investors that green building is a key growth market for Europe.
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blog
How one pilot project could inspire a green building revolution
Wed, 23rd May 2018Knauf Insulation Experience Center in Slovenia was selected to participate in the testing phase for Level(s); Knauf's Laura Croze blogs on how this pilot project could spearhead a new green building revolution in Europe.
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blog
Level(s) Testing Phase - Everything You Need to Know!
Thu, 3rd May 2018Audrey Nugent, Senior Policy Advisor of the Europe Regional Network, outlines the stages of the Level(s) testing phase, a new framework that is set to transform the European building market.
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news
Norwegian Green Building Council and Green Building Alliance to become joint organisation
Mon, 23rd Apr 2018Norwegian Green Building Council and Green Building Alliance have announced they will merge into a joint organisation with effect from 1 July 2018 in move to create a stronger, more robust organisation.
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news
WorldGBC’s BUILD UPON helps put renovation at heart of new EU energy policy
Tue, 6th Feb 2018WorldGBC's BUILD UPON project scored a major win last week when Europe committed to put national renovation strategies at the heart of efforts to tackle climate change – a key recommendation from the project.
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news
EU considering changes to banking rules to reward consumers for choosing greener buildings
Fri, 5th Jan 2018Efforts to cut emissions from Europe’s building stock received a boost as the European Commission said it was considering lowering capital requirements for banks to help reward consumers investing in energy efficient buildings.
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news
European Green Building Councils urge Europe not to ignore its renovation potential
Thu, 30th Nov 2017Green Building Councils from across Europe are urging their governments to champion strong EU policy – particularly around building renovation - that helps to deliver on global climate change goals.
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news
New reports set out actions for how green mortgages can meet EU climate & building renovation goals
Thu, 26th Oct 2017A series of new reports published today set out the actions needed to ensure mortgage lending can support the EU’s climate and building renovation goals.
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news
Green Building Councils forge new path on energy efficient mortgages
Tue, 17th Oct 2017Ten Green Building Councils from Europe met in London today ahead of the publication of new research strengthening the case for energy efficient mortgages.
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news
European green building policy takes key step forward as MEPs vote for strong ambition
Thu, 12th Oct 2017Members of the European Parliament yesterday voted for stronger ambition on the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, ahead of negotiating talks with the European Council.
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news
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development releases new publication on investing in green buildings
Fri, 29th Sep 2017The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has today released a set of new publications on its Green Economy Transition investments in buildings for World Green Building Week.
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blog
How EBRD is sparking a green economic transition
Fri, 29th Sep 2017In this blog for World Green Building Week, James Drinkwater of WorldGBC's Europe Regional Network explains why leaders like the EBRD are open for business on investing in green buildings.
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news
European Commission releases first EU-wide tool for sustainable building performance reporting during World Green Building Week
Thu, 28th Sep 2017The European Commission has today launched the pilot phase of ‘Level(s)’, a new EU framework for sustainable buildings, which will help transform the building sector.
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blog
Introducing Level(s): A common language to understand sustainability in European buildings
Thu, 28th Sep 2017Audrey Nugent, Senior Policy Advisor of the Europe Regional Network, blogs on how the European Commission's new tool Level(s) could transform the European building market.
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blog
What are green mortgages & how will they revolutionise home energy efficiency?
Mon, 4th Sep 2017In this Q&A, Stephen Richardson,Technical Lead for Energy Efficiency Mortgages, discusses the principles of green mortgages and how they are key to meeting climate change targets.
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news
BUILD UPON project cited in Forbes as example of large scale transformation
Wed, 16th Aug 2017WorldGBC’s BUILD UPON project has been cited in a recent Forbes article as an example of large-scale societal transformation, alongside disruptive platform businesses such as Airbnb and Uber.
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news
Homebuyers could borrow more with better forecasting of energy bills, says new research project involving UK-GBC
Tue, 18th Jul 2017More accurate assessments of home energy bills by mortgage lenders could vary loans by up to £11,500 between the most energy efficient properties and the most energy hungry homes, according to a new research.
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news
Major banks & building experts build bridges in Rome to create energy efficiency mortgage
Fri, 9th Jun 2017More than 100 experts from European banks, Green Building Councils and other organisations meet in Rome today to kick start the Energy Efficient Mortgages Action Plan (EeMAP) project.
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blog
Notes from the Networks - Tackling the big issues to build a better Europe
Thu, 11th May 2017Our recent meeting of European Green Building Councils and Regional Partners in Dublin, Ireland, was European cooperation at its best, blogs WorldGBC's James Drinkwater.
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news
GBC Finland & WorldGBC gather experts to implement new EU building policy
Tue, 9th May 2017GBC Finland and WorldGBC gathered a group of expert and influential organisations today to begin the important task of implementing a new EU policy on sustainable buildings.
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news
European Commission & WorldGBC’s Europe Regional Network discuss future of sustainable building in Europe
Tue, 11th Apr 2017Green Building Councils and Partners from WorldGBC’s Europe Regional Network met with the European Commission to discuss a key piece of EU policy.
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news
European countries finalise renovation plans with support of BUILD UPON project
Wed, 1st Mar 2017European countries are finalising strategies on how to renovate their existing buildings, as WorldGBC's BUILD UPON project successfully concludes a campaign of over 100 events.
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news
ASSA ABLOY becomes Partner of World Green Building Council's Europe Regional Network
Thu, 26th Jan 2017ASSA ABLOY has become an official Regional Partner of the World Green Building Council’s Europe Regional Network.
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news
Stora Enso becomes Partner of World Green Building Council's Europe Regional Network
Mon, 16th Jan 2017Stora Enso’s division Wood Products has today become an official Regional Partner of the World Green Building Council’s Europe Regional Network.
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news
WorldGBC welcomes three new member Green Building Councils
Thu, 15th Dec 2016The World Green Building Council is delighted that three new Green Building Councils have joined the organisation – taking our total number of member Green Building Councils up to 74.
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blog
When is a building 'circular'?
Thu, 6th Oct 2016If you thought this was a good example of a 'circular' building, you've got a lot of catching up to do, and now is the perfect time to start…
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news
European Commission Vice President announced as Patron for World Green Building Week in Europe
Mon, 26th Sep 2016Maroš Šefčovič, the Vice President of the European Commission, has been announced as the patron for World Green Building Week 2016 in Europe.
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news
BASF becomes official Partner of Europe Regional Network
Mon, 9th May 2016BASF has today become an official Regional Partner of the WorldGBC’s Europe Regional Network.
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news
European countries urged to create ambitious plans for cutting emissions from buildings to meet Paris Agreement
Wed, 27th Apr 2016Governments, businesses, consumer groups and NGOs across Europe are being urged to come together to create ambitious plans for how their countries will cut emissions from existing buildings, in order to meet the Paris Agreement and halt global temperature rises.
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news
WorldGBC & EBRD collaborate to drive sustainable buildings
Wed, 20th Apr 2016The World Green Building Council’s Europe Regional Network and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in support of sustainable property development.
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news
World’s largest collaborative retrofit project launches to cut emissions from buildings
Tue, 1st Mar 2016The world’s largest collaborative project on building renovation has been officially launched today by Green Building Councils across Europe, in a bid to tackle one of the region’s biggest climate challenges – its existing buildings.
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news
EU unveils new green building policy objectives
Fri, 8th Jan 2016The European Commission has started building the foundations of a common language around green building with the release of a major new working paper.
Read more >Further reading
These awards were established to promote leadership on sustainability and inspire best practice in building projects, business practice and public policy.
Events
Wednesday 19th February 2020 to Thursday 20th February 2020
Tuesday 24th September 2019
As part of World Green Building Week and alongside the UN Climate Action Summit, the World Green Building Council will host an exclusive executive briefing and reception to celebrate the launch of its new industry report calling for radical industry collaboration to achieve decarbonisation.