Cooperation with India sealed at IGEF event

Under the umbrella of the "Indo-German Energy Forum“ in Delhi the Indian Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) signed a Letter of Commitment to become part of the bigEE project. The affiliation of India as a country partner is an important step forward to extend the knowledge platform bigEE to provide information on successful policy instruments and technology options for energy efficiency in buildings in one of the largest and fastest growing building sectors worldwide.

According to the Global Buildings Performance Network, India doubled its floor area of buildings between 2001-2005 and is experiencing the fastest rate of growth in new building in the world (GBPN 2013). Based on 2005 data, India will have added about 35 billion m² of new building floor area by 2050.

Against the backdrop of associated growing energy demand, making use of the great saving potential in the building sector will be inevitable. The urgent necessity to harness this potential in order to avoid lock-in has been confirmed by the "Indo-German Expert Group on Green and Inclusive Economy“, a high level group that gathered in New Delhi 3 to 4 February 2014 chaired by sustainable development expert Dr. Ashok Khosla and Prof. Peter Hennicke, Principal Advisor to the bigEE project.

Under the auspices of German Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the group is working together for two years, focusing on common benefits such as the identification of technical and societal leapfrogging options. Joint research projects and policy papers are planned as a joint output of the group, with the building and the transportation sector being priority sectors of further work.

At the Delhi meeting the group engaged in a discussion on the topic “Natural resources and decoupling growth from resource consumption“. In the course, the Delhi-based Development Alternatives Group together with the German Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy prepared a background paper on indicators, the need, the barriers and the benefits of decoupling under the headline "Common, but differentiated responsibilities and benefits“, which will soon be available for download.