This report is part of a three-part series led by CCFLA to promote an understanding of financing barriers to net zero carbon buildings. This paper particularly focuses on Nigeria and assesses the current use of financial and policy instruments, and identifies how national, state, and local policy and regulatory frameworks can be improved to drive private and public investment in this sector. This report evaluates the current use of financial and policy instruments to identify ways to strengthen national, state, and municipal policy and regulatory frameworks to encourage private and public investment in this area.

The policy environment in Nigeria for net zero-carbon buildings is fragmented. While there is no overarching strategy or policy on net zero-carbon buildings, several relevant elements can be found in a variety of legislation.

While the 2017 National Building Energy Efficiency Code (BEEC) establishes minimum efficiency requirements for new structures, the 2021 National Climate Change Policy gives policy guidelines on building energy efficiency retrofitting.

Please read the full report here.

The new UN Climate Technology Centre & Network (CTCN) knowledge brief showcases how Africa is harnessing technology in designing, developing, and sustaining a circular economy, devising solutions which are both low-tech – such as composting and using local building materials – and high-tech, such as anaerobic digestion, material science and digital material marketplaces.

Africa is the fastest-growing region in the world. Unfortunately, current construction in Africa is highly dependent on imported construction materials with high negative environmental impacts. The new SBC publication Unlocking the Potential of Local Circular Materials in Urbanising Africa and video present a building concept for high-density neighbourhoods that promotes the use of responsibly sourced local materials.

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This report, prepared as part of activity A315 of the meetMED II project "Improving energy efficiency and thermal comfort in public buildings managed by local authorities", reviews these tools, highlights the role played by national public agencies in their deployment and defines the conditions necessary for their replication. This review is based on bilateral interviews with the national energy agencies of the partner countries, supplemented by a literature review.

Download the report in English and French

The African BIM Report 2022 is now available online in English, French and Arabic. Projects from five African countries shared their approach to innovation and BIM implementation. Expert opinions from five leading researchers outlined innovative technologies and approaches for the industry to advance. The 2022 survey results from across 39 African countries highlight major and minor industry shifts in awareness, adoption, and implementation since the inaugural report in 2020. Download here.
 

Africa Climate Week 2022 was held 29 August to 2 September in Gabon. ACW 2022 engages and empowers stakeholders to drive climate action across countries, communities and economies. Turning Libreville, Gabon, into Africa's climate capitol for a week, ACW 2022 brought together more than 2,300 stakeholders for five days of discussion in more than 200 sessions, with many more joining through virtual participation. An ACW 2022 Output Report provides a record of engagement that can guide implementation of the Paris Agreement in Africa.

Here is the output on the Session 6 of the Track 1 (Striving for 1.5 Degrees) – Sustainable Buildings for Climate-Proof Cities: 

To meet the SDGs and Paris Agreement Goals, we need to accelerate decarbonization and transformation of the built environment with a whole life-cycle approach that addresses embodied and operational carbon.

• Sustainable building materials and construction practices offer a key opportunity to move to circular, low-carbon, renewable materials and construction methods
• Need effective strategies and policies that drive concrete actions and the uptake of sustainable building materials globally, especially in Africa
• Policies and strategies are critical, designers and architects also play an important role to make sustainable building materials affordable and also desirable
• Building and construction sector value chain is highly fragmented. To achieve global transformation of built environment, radical stakeholder collaboration by all is needed

Read the full ACW 2022 Output Report.

Today’s global energy crisis underscores the urgency and magnitude of the task of transforming Africa’s energy sector, as well as the benefits of an accelerated shift to more affordable and cleaner sources of energy.

The Africa Energy Outlook 2022 is a new special report from the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook series. It explores pathways for Africa’s energy system to evolve toward achieving all African development goals, including universal access to modern and affordable energy services by 2030 and nationally determined contributions.

The report analyses infrastructure expansion needs, investment requirements, financing options and energy policy priorities. It also explores a shifting fuel mix that supports resilient development, opportunities for new exports, and just transition issues – including energy access, affordability and employment.

This report aims to promote a sustainable development approach to meet the immense needs in terms of construction in Africa, based on a rational and sustainable use of local materials. To this end, it presents the advantages, challenges and conditions of use of these materials. It presents examples of technical solutions illustrated by a panorama of the potential resources of the territories (bio and geo-sourced). It provides elements of analysis of the impact of local "short circuit" channels and elements of methodology. It also highlights the need to match architectural design with the specific characteristics of locally available materials, which can be summed up as: "the right material in the right place".

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Cet ouvrage vise à promouvoir une approche Développement Durable pour répondre aux immenses besoins en matière de construction en Afrique, en se basant sur une utilisation rationnelle et durable des matériaux locaux. Pour cela, il présente les avantages, les enjeux et les conditions d'utilisation de ces matériaux. Il présente des exemples de solutions techniques illustrés par un panorama des ressources potentielles des territoires (bio et géosourcés). Il fournit des éléments d’analyse de l’impact des filières locales en « circuit court » et des éléments de méthodologie. Il met aussi en valeur la nécessaire adéquation entre conception architecturale et caractéristiques spécifiques des matériaux disponibles localement, ce qui se résume bien par : « le bon matériau au bon endroit »

The EU’s initiatives on Sustainable Finance will have an impact on the buildings sector. PEEB is closely monitoring the ongoing EU sustainable finance agenda and published two publications to support actors in the buildings sector in understanding their impact on buildings: a briefing on the EU taxonomy and a background paper on the opportunities for EU sustainable finance in external action.

The EU taxonomy briefing explains this initiative and its impact on the building sector. As a classification system for economic activities that can be considered environmentally sustainable, the EU taxonomy can have a profound impact on financing decisions. Following the enacting of this regulation through the EU and its member states, only investments that comply with technical screening criteria can be communicated as “sustainable”.

The background paper on EU Sustainable Finance in external action analyses the EU’s important role in global financial flows and the EU’s recent sustainable finance initiatives, and the potential to influence the massive sustainable finance challenge for buildings. It finds that the EU is in an excellent position to promote investment projects and national investment frameworks for sustainable and Paris aligned activities in partner countries and gives recommendations to enhance this.

Hospitals are large consumers of energy. This guide for the Tunisian hospital sector gives concrete recommendations to energy managers and architects. It covers areas such as the orientation of waiting areas and patient rooms, energy efficiency and management of different hospital installations, and the integration of renewable energy sources to provide a safe and secure power supply for its day-to-day functioning.

The guide was developed by the Tunisian Ministry of Health and the Tunisian Energy Management Agency (ANME), with the Programme for Energy Efficiency in Buildings (PEEB)