14/12/2009
Amidst political decision-makers and leading scientist from around the world, 3CSEP director Diana Ürge-Vorsatz and two junior researchers are present at the COP15 climate summit in Copenhagen. On December 11, 2009, Prof. Ürge-Vorsatz contributed to "Construction Counts for Climate", a COP15 side event on low carbon policies for buildings and construction - a sector offering huge potential for carbon mitigation, given that almost 40 percent of all energy is consumed in buildings. Following talks by Jan Vapaavuori, Finland's Minister for Housing, and UN Under-Secretary General Achim Steiner, Diana Ürge-Vorsatz presented the latest research results on the climate role of construction and refurbishment to international policymakers. The side event was hosted by the Ministry of the Environment of Finland and the Marrakech Task Force on Sustainable Buildings and Construction. A webcast of the event is available and the presentation of Diana Ürge-Vorsatz can be downloaded here.
Junior researcher Elena Kholodova, who has recently joined 3CSEP from the Regional Environmental Center (REC), is contributing to side event organization at COP15 and networking with experts to exchange insights on the financing of energy-efficient building retrofits in the context of the ongoing Staccato research project. Maria Sharmina, who has intensely contributed to 3CSEP research in 2008/2009, is at COP15 as a "young expert" of the Global Observatory Project, observing her home country Russia's moves in the climate negotiations and interviewing representatives of grass-roots organizations.
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