Kurt M. Campbell Deputy Secretary of State | Official Website
The Subnational Climate Action Leaders’ Exchange (SCALE) partnership has introduced the Zero Emissions and Resilient Buildings (ZERB) Accelerator at the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference, known as COP 29. This initiative aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve climate resilience in the building sector through collaboration with subnational governments globally. The announcement took place during SCALE’s COP 29 Action Dialogue.
The building sector is a significant source of carbon emissions, responsible for over one-third of global emissions due to operations and construction activities. The sector also faces climate risks such as flooding, rising sea levels, heat stress, heatwaves, severe storms, and fires. The ZERB Accelerator seeks to address these issues by uniting cities, states, and regions committed to mitigation and resilience goals.
This new initiative will align with existing efforts like the Buildings Breakthrough initiative and the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction's Subnational Stakeholders Action Group. It will enhance coordination between subnational jurisdictions and national governments while mobilizing organizations for support in policy development, finance, technical assistance, data monitoring, review, and verification.
Maryland and Washington in the U.S., along with Bogotá in Colombia, are among the first jurisdictions to join this accelerator. Organizations supporting this effort include Bloomberg Philanthropies; Building to COP Coalition; C40 Cities; Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction; Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy; several U.S. Department of Energy laboratories; Under2 Coalition; U.S. State Department; World Green Building Council; and World Resources Institute.
For more details about this initiative, inquiries can be directed to climatecomms@state.gov.
