Green Building Councils in Europe have launched the Build Upon initiative, the largest collaborative project in the world on renovating buildings, in order to address climate change issue and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide from existing buildings, announces a release of the Romanian Green Building Council (ROGBC). The project will involve more than 1,000 organizations that will organize more than 80 events devoted to this theme in 2016 and 2017. The total value of the initiative amounts 2.35 million euro.

“The emissions from existing buildings represent 36% of total European carbon dioxide emissions. Build Upon wants to help reduce this impact by supporting the governments, the industry and civil society to co-create national strategies for renovation, long-term plans aiming to renovate housing, commercial buildings, public and private ones, at high standards of energy efficiency. These strategies will be completed by 30th April 2017 in accordance with EU law”, informs the release of ROGBC.

Build Upon project is funded by the EU research and innovation program Horizon 2020 and is implemented by Green Building Councils in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey.

“This spring we will organize a series of workshops where the actors involved in the renovation of buildings will debate about the economic and financial barriers and awareness-raising, and will deepen the ideas and initiatives that can contribute to overcoming these barriers. The workshops “Change Romania with Build Upon” will result in a chain of recommendations for government authorities”, says Monica Ardealeanu, Director of Policy Development and the ROGBC.

Existing buildings are one of the biggest challenges for Europe in the fight against climate change, says Terri Wills, the Executive Director of the World Green Building Council.

“Build Upon will be the catalyst for this revolution (under renovation – e.n.) by adding an unprecedented number of stakeholders, including governments, businesses and NGOs, a collaborative community that will work together to transform Europe’s existing building into green buildings”, he added.

Build Upon project will use two main tools:

• RenoWiki – an innovative online portal that allows people to upload existing initiatives on renovation of buildings in Europe, in order to inform the public about best practices and success stories. So far, there are more than 550 initiatives on RenoWiki.
• Over 80 events organized in the capitals and major cities of the 13 countries involved in the project in order to consult and engage key stakeholders regarding initiatives that can be included in strategies for renovation.