March 27, 2019, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia – The Ulaanbaatar City Environmental Department organized a kick-off workshop today on building energy efficiency deep dive program together with ICLEI—Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) and the World Resource Institute (WRI) under the assistance of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI).
The kick-off workshop was aimed at developing the shared vision regarding the building efficiency policy and pilot program of residential building. It was an opportunity for the city to publicly communicate its commitment. The main purpose of the kick-off workshop was to a) communicate the city’s commitment to pursuing building efficiency actions; b) identify and engage stakeholders who are critical to implement the selected policy and pilot program; and c) develop shared vision regarding the selected policy and pilot program.
Mr. E. Battulga, Head of Ulaanbaatar Environmental Department Office delivered an opening speech. In his speech he highlighted “Today’s seminar will be resulted in find exits how to successfully implement Deep Dive program. From UB side we will be providing all required support for successful implementation of the program.”
The main discussion points of the workshop were as follows:
- UB city’s role BEA phase I and II and future collaboration
- Building Efficiency and TTR for Residential buildings
- Current situation (Heating substation and network) of district heating system for apartment buildings in Ulaanbaatar
- Current situation of apartment buildings (Envelopes and insulation) in Ulaanbaatar city and heating system condition.
- UB city role and much needed gap, current activities within national and local budget.
The BEA, the ICLEI East Asia Secretariat (ICLEI East Asia), and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) have been supporting the Mayor’s office to achieve its residential energy efficiency targets, as well as to contribute towards the national goals. In cooperation with the Mayor’s Office, ICLEI East Asia and GGGI have developed an initial business model design that uses a Standard Offer Approach, which will introduce market-based energy performance contracting and innovative financing mechanisms for thermo-technical retrofitting (TTR) of the residential buildings.
In September 2016, Mongolia ratified its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change in accordance with key national mandates and sectoral policies such as the Green Development Policy (2014) and its Action Plan (2016). Mongolia’s overall commitment is to reduce 14% of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 2030 compared to Business-As-Usual (BAU). One of the main drivers to achieve this goal is to improve energy efficiency in production, distribution, transmission, and usage.
The Government of Mongolia set out ambitious targets and goals to improve energy efficiency, conservation of energy and reduce energy losses. Among which, Mongolia’s Green Development Policy and INDC document set out a goal to reduce building heat loss by 20% by 2020, and 40% by 2030. Although there have been a number of legal and regulatory improvements to achieve energy efficiency potential in Mongolia, there is a gap in terms of residential buildings. In aggregate terms this sector represents 40 per cent of energy consumption, more than industry and transport sectors combined. The residential building sector thus has greater potential to reduce energy demand and ultimately to reduce CO2 emissions.
Ulaanbaatar (UB) City has the highest number of building stock in Mongolia. According to Mayor’s Office, there are 1077 pre-fabricated buildings in UB city which have high building heat loss. Mayor’s office has developed sub-program to carry out thermal-technical retrofits for these buildings, starting with 362 buildings that have passed the earthquake resilience test.
UB City, ICLEI East Asia, and GGGI are actively seeking to attract financing and carrying out necessary preparations to implement the TTR projects in UB City.
About the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI)
Based in Seoul, GGGI is an intergovernmental organization that supports developing country government’s transition to a model of economic growth that is environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive. GGGI delivers programs in 25 partner countries with technical support, capacity building, policy planning & implementation, and by helping to build a pipeline of bankable green investment projects. More on GGGI’s events, projects and publications can be found on www.gggi.org. You can also follow GGGI on Twitter and join us on Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.
About ICLEI
ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability is a global network of more than 1,750 local and regional governments committed to sustainable urban development. Active in 100+ countries, we influence sustainability policy and drive local action for low emission, nature-based, equitable, resilient and circular development. Our Members and team of experts work together through peer exchange, partnerships and capacity building to create systemic change for urban sustainability. Based in Seoul, South Korea, the ICLEI East Asia Secretariat was founded in 2012 to support Members in the region to achieve urban sustainability through ICLEI’s 5 Pathways. By 2019, 96 Members in the region have joined ICLEI. For more information please visit eastasia.iclei.org and Twitter.
About WRI
WRI is a global research organization working at the intersection of environment, economic prosperity, and human well-being. The Building Efficiency Accelerator partnership is coordinated by the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities.
About BEA
The SE4ALL Building Energy Efficiency Accelerator (BEA) assists sub-national governments to improve the energy efficiency of buildings in their jurisdictions to reduce energy costs, create new market opportunities and reduce pollution. In 2018-2019, the global program will assist 60 subnational partners and leverage the expertise of over 40 technical organizations and business partners. This multi-sectoral collaboration aims to speed actions on efficiency policies and projects. The BEA partners have selected 8 BEA cities for deeper partnership in 2018-2019, including Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The deep support to Ulaanbaatar includes the provision of on-site staffing and expertise from ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) to assist the city in planning and implementing building efficiency actions.