Passive House Canada and Vancouver’s Zero Emissions Building Exchange (Zebx) Centre for Excellence, were participants in the UNECE High Performance Building Initiative at UN Headquarters in New York to establish the International Centres of Excellence on High Performance Buildings.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is one of the five United Nations Regional Commissions working to implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
In 2017 UNECE adopted the Framework Guidelines for Energy Efficiency Standards in Buildings which promotes the adoption of aggressive, performance-based codes for buildings.
To support deployment of the framework guidelines and to advance the performance of buildings broadly, UNECE is launching a global network of International Centres of Excellence on High Performance Buildings that will provide on-the-ground implementation assistance for building owners and developers, contractors, architects, engineers and planning officials.
Centres of Excellence will advance market transformation to high-performance buildings by providing industry with the tools and training required to design, construction and maintain them.
Passive House Canada played a central role in the development of the UN’s Framework Guidelines and is a key partner in Canada’s first Centre of Excellence in Vancouver. Zebx is a partnership between the City of Vancouver, Passive House Canada, the Vancouver Regional Construction Association and the Open Green Building Society.
“Passive House Canada is honoured to have had the privilege to play a role in developing the Framework Guidelines for energy efficiency in buildings, and in creating Canada’s first centre of excellence in Vancouver,” said CEO of Passive House Canada, Rob Bernhardt.
“Canada’s national strategy to transform buildings aligns well with the global agenda and we look forward to working throughout Canada and with the international community to achieve the shared objectives.”
This initiative is being linked to other UN programs to support the Paris Climate Change Accord and the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Three centres of excellence have been established to date: Zebx in Vancouver with the other two being in New York and Ireland.
