The City of Melbourne has received one of ten prestigious international awards for the Sustainable Buildings Program, which promotes energy efficiency in new and existing buildings.
Twenty nine other cities, including Berlin and New York, were short-listed for the City Climate Leadership Award, presented by C40 and Siemens.
Taking the prize in the category of Energy Efficient Built environment, the award reflects the commitment Melbourne’s building owners, businesses and residents have towards creating a greener city.
The Environmental Upgrade Agreement (EUA), an innovative finance mechanism for enabling building retrofits within the Program was a key element of the award win, recognising leadership globally in driving energy efficiency with economic and environmental outcomes.
Lord Mayor Robert Doyle (pictured above and left) was presented with the prestigious award, demonstrating new heights in the climb towards a truly sustainable Melbourne.
The award justly echoes an economic shift in Melbourne’s commercial building sector. With the introduction of the EUA, a piece of legislation that allows building owner’s to access innovative finance to upgrade; sustainable buildings are growing in city that is globally recognised as ‘the most liveable.’
What are the benefits of EUA?
The ground-breaking EUA mechanism has proved to be an effective, secure and comfortable way for building owners to pay for retrofitting for energy and water efficiency and lifting the performance of their buildings. Since the EUA’s inception, nearly 102,000m2 of office floor space has secured finance through an EUA, resulting in $12.6 million of upgrade projects, cutting 6,270 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2-e) and saving over $571,000 in energy costs per year. The EUA mechanism is a key tool assisting the City’s ambition of retrofitting 80 percent of the city’s commercial buildings stock by 2020.
A race to the top.
In a struggling global economy, the race towards a green, sustainable city has never had more momentum than today. Investing in sustainable buildings not only boosts capital and rental value of buildings, but enhances jobs and expertise in a growing green market. Cultivating green commercial buildings in Melbourne has led to a higher standard of tenancy space in many offices, raising the bar for other Australian cities to follow. With the highest density of green buildings in Australia, Melbourne’s pioneering efforts place it on a global scale against cities such as New York, Hong Kong and Johannesburg.
Whilst Melbourne is just one of 58 large cities that have agreed to take steps to reduce their emissions under the C40 global group, it leads Australia into the top 10 cities to win a C40 climate award.
There is no doubt the City of Melbourne is paving the way for a greener Australia. Combining effective funds and implementing feasible programs, Melbourne’s commitment to be carbon-neutral by 2020 is globally respected and well under wraps.
Find out more about finance for building retrofits.
Find out more about the City’s new Energy Water and Waste Efficiency policy that sets minimum environmental standards for new buildings.
Join the sustainable buildings program.
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