Overview:

Summary: Benchmarking is a tool that allows municipalities to track progress on building energy performance over time as well as make comparisons to surrounding and similar buildings.

Implementation: Conduct regular energy efficiency audits on buildings and assess overall performance in the geography.

Considerations for Use: Partnerships with utility providers can support data collection. Municipalities typically target larger buildings for reporting requirements.

• Policy Levers: The mechanism municipalities can use to actualize the intervention. These policy levers will likely be used in combination with each other.
  
  
  MandateMandates are government regulations that require stakeholders to meet standards through building codes, ordinances, zoning policies, or other regulatory tools.
• Trigger Points: Opportunities for municipalities to implement risk reduction and preparedness interventions based on the policy lever, building on the United Nations Environment Programme triggers used in the Beating the Heat handbook (2021).
  
  
  No-regrets actions (low cost/low effort but substantial benefit)Interventions that are relatively low-cost and low effort (in terms of requisite dependencies) but have substantial environmental and/or social benefits.
• Intervention Type:
  Buildings and Built Form
• Sectors:
  Buildings, Public Works

Impact:

• Target Beneficiaries:
  Property owners, Residents
• Phase of Impact:
  Risk reduction and mitigation
• Metrics:
  Energy use by area, building, and use

Case Studies:

• Vancouver Energy Audit (UNEP, Pg 131)
• Austin Energy Conservation Audit and Disclosure Ordinance
• Hong Kong's Energy Audit code

Implementation:

• Intervention Scale:
  City
• Authority and Governance:
  City government
• Implementation Timeline:
  Medium-term (3-9 Years)
• Implementation Stakeholders:
  City government, Industry, Private developers, Property owners and managers
• Funding Sources:
  Public investment
• Capacity to Act:
  High, Medium

Benefits:

• Cost-Benefit:
  Low
• Public Good:
  N/A
• GHG Reduction:
  Medium
• Co-benefits (Climate/Environmental):
  Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Co-benefits (Social):
  N/A