Accelerating heating decarbonization in buildings with the GlobalABC

Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom: At the COP26 #BuildingsPavilion, a group of nations, companies, and organizations announced the launch of a global collaborative effort to accelerate the adoption of clean heating solutions for buildings: the “Clean Heat Forum – Accelerating heating decarbonization in buildings with the GlobalABC”.

Decarbonized heating in buildings is about providing healthy, safe, comfortable homes and workplaces for people. It touches upon questions of justice, energy poverty, and basic needs. Achieving net-zero in the buildings sector will require a triple approach, including reducing energy demand, decarbonizing power supply, and addressing materials/embodied carbon. For the first two especially, heating plays a key role and it can be addressed through multiple interventions, including appliances and refrigerants, power supply, and envelope. Coordinated action on policy and technology for key low/zero carbon solutions can make the transition faster, cheaper and easier for all. Globally, several countries, regions, cities, companies, and organizations are starting to take action, but such efforts could greatly benefit from cross-fertilization and exchange of best practices and co-creation of standards, policies, and innovation.

Heating with fossil fuels is responsible for a large share of direct greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, which in turn accounts for around 9% of global energy-related emissions. While we have clean heating solutions – like highly efficient heat pumps, district energy solutions, deep retrofits, and better building design – at our fingertips, adoption has lagged and these solutions remain inaccessible to many.