Bureau of Energy Efficiency, India is GBPN Climate Champion

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has been named GBPN’s inaugural Climate Champion. The recognition is an acknowledgement of BEE’s efforts in realising sustainable and healthy buildings with amendments made to the Energy Conservation Act. The certificate was presented to Mr Saurabh Diddi, Director, BEE by Mr Gautam Nagar, GBPN Senior Advisor, India on 24th Nov 2022 at the office of Bureau of Energy Efficiency, New Delhi.

GBPN CEO and Executive Director, Dr Peter Graham, congratulated the Bureau of Energy Efficiency and its team for getting the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill 2022 passed in the Lok Sabha.

“The amendment is a milestone in India’s journey towards sustainable buildings. It has the potential to fast-track the achievement of India’s Nationally Determined Contributions,” Dr Graham said.

“We know from our experience around the world how difficult it is to develop policy and then see it through to a regulatory change as well. We also noted that there’s a shift in scope, from energy conservation to an energy conservation and sustainable building code.

“We want to acknowledge this important shift in scope and thank BEE and the team for their efforts in getting the amendment passed. We look forward to the bill being passed in Rajya Sabha.”

Dr Graham was speaking at the presentation remotely from Australia.

Mr Gautam Nagar said that the amendments, once passed in the Rajya Sabha, will expand the scope of the Energy Conservation Act Building to include large residential buildings.

“The amendments give the state governments a broader mandate to ensure compliance with energy efficiency and conservation standards. The state government will be able to direct owners of large commercial and residential buildings to adopt sustainable building practices and renewable energy.

Mr Saurabh Diddi thanked GBPN for the recognition and said the passing of the amendment was only the first step.

“There is a lot of ground work to be done to achieve real goals. What we are looking for from organisations like GBPN is support in making Eco-Niwas Samhita implementable for residential buildings,” Mr Diddi said during the award presentation.

“We look forward to working with GBPN on the inclusion of sustainable building concepts in the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC).”

GBPN’s Climate Champions award is a recognition of an individual or a team who achieves a significant policy win in decarbonizing the buildings sector, and promoting sustainable and healthy buildings. It is one of our ways to thank and celebrate our Champions.

See this page for more information about GBPN Badges and how to earn them.

The GBPN Climate Champion webpage provides more information about the award.