A Wexford-based community group has entered an agreement to work in partnership with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) as part of a worldwide mission to reduce carbon emissions in the built environment.
The partnership between the Enniscorthy Forum and UNEP is set to be announced at a Ministerial Summit being hosted by the Forum and sponsored by Kingspan, a global leader in building innovation, this week in Enniscorthy.
As part of a newly signed memorandum of understanding (MOU), the Enniscorthy Forum will work in collaboration with UNEP to promote the transformative benefits of high-performance buildings and to ensure promotion and take-up of best practice methods in planning, design and construction across the world.
The Forum is supported by the Irish Government and its summit this week is due to be attended by senior industry figures and leading academics as well as US and UN officials. Mike Stenson, Project Director of Kingspan’s planned Building Technology Centre in Ukraine, will also address the event.
Being held on Tuesday and Wednesday, the summit will hear a call for the Irish Government to sign up to the Buildings Breakthrough Target – a French and Moroccan-led joint vision and rallying point initiative aimed at ensuring near-zero emission buildings are the new normal by 2030. The initiative is part of UNEP’s work programme.
The Enniscorthy Forum, a not-for-profit organisation, was set up in 2020 by the Enniscorthy & District Chamber of Commerce to support advancement of the United Nations sustainable development agenda. Its membership believes that the challenges confronting humanity are deep and intrinsically global, but require action by local forces, so global-local partnerships and collaborations are needed.
In September 2022, the Forum launched its Buildings Action Coalition to advance high performance buildings. The coalition is a global collaboration with a programme of projects and activities involving a wide range of public and private stakeholders in construction, planning, policy and other built environment sectors to accelerate attainment of the Buildings Breakthrough Target.
As part of the new MOU, UNEP and UNEP’s Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (Global ABC) have now become lead partners with the Enniscorthy Forum and the Buildings Action Coalition is now aligned with the Global ABC.
Scott Foster, a former director of the Sustainable Energy Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and an adviser to the Enniscorthy Forum, said: “Improving the performance of buildings and the built environment is the one action that can deliver integrated solutions at scale in a timely fashion to produce tangible outcomes on economic, social, and environmental resilience, quality of life, and climate, among other desirable outcomes, and in the process advance employment, innovation, and investment. This is an exciting development for the Enniscorthy Forum and is proof that small local organisations can achieve big things with the right support, the right partners and the right vision. The Buildings Action Coalition has far-reaching ambitions to help transform the built environment worldwide.”
Barbara Anne Murphy, CEO of the Enniscorthy Forum, said: “Since our foundation in 2020, we have received significant support from the Irish government, industry partners and Buildings Action Coalition members. Signing an MOU with UNEP will bring our work to the next level and increase our reach and influence as well as that of the membership of the Buildings Action Coalition. The signing of the MOU with UNEP means the Forum will now support UNEP’s work. This will include advocating for market transformation to achieve high performance buildings, developing guidelines that will help deliver net zero buildings and working closely with all stakeholders to lead and support this much-needed transition.
“We already have a significant programme of collaborations including outreach, research, academic studies, construction projects and education and training schemes. We now intend to expand the global membership network of the Buildings Action Coalition to more countries and more construction industry stakeholders. We also plan to mobilise resources and disseminate knowledge, experience and best practices to transition towards zero emission buildings and construction.
“As part of this work we are now calling on the Irish government to sign up to the Buildings Breakthrough Target. This is an important initiative, which urges countries to ensure that near-zero emission and resilient buildings are the new normal by 2030. To date 16 countries have signed up to it and we need Ireland to join them.”
Mark Radka, Chief of the Energy and Climate Branch of UNEP, said: “We are delighted with our newly formalised relationship with the Enniscorthy Forum and look forward to a strong and enduring partnership that helps raise the performance of buildings and the built environment on a global scale. Experts from Ireland helped initiate the UN’s High Performance Buildings Initiative and this prompted creation of the Enniscorthy Forum. UNEP values and appreciates the Irish Government’s support for the Enniscorthy Forum and the activities of its Buildings Action Coalition.”
Mike Stenson, Project Director of Kingspan’s Ukraine Building Technology Campus said: “We are delighted to sponsor the summit and support the work of the Enniscorthy Forum on high-performance buildings. Kingspan is a global leader in building innovation. We believe advanced materials, building systems and digital technologies can play an important role in helping to address the global issues of circularity and climate change and we are playing a key part in realising this. As part of our work in this crucial area, we are planning to invest €280m in a new Building Technology Campus in Ukraine. This will be a net zero manufacturing site developing innovative products for sale across Europe and to help in the sustainable reconstruction of Ukraine.”
Event details:
The announcement of the signing of the MOU with UNEP will take place at a Ministerial Summit in the Riverside Park Hotel in Enniscorthy on June 27th and 28th.
