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sustainable building practices in the sector and help Colombia leapfrog to a deep decarbonisa-tion pathway in the sector. Moreover, it can provide an iterative process to inform policy orien-tation towards decarbonisation. Ambitious donors may therefore find the approach of facilitat-ing introduction of NZEBs by nestfacilitat-ing market-based pilots under a transformative policy support programme attractive option to gain experiences with post-Paris climate finance and carbon fi-nance cooperation, while supporting sectoral transformation in Colombia.
Overall, to respond to the future needs of the sector, reduce energy consumption and emissions, while charting a pathway consistent with the Paris Agreement and reducing expensive govern-ment subsidy paygovern-ments, we make the following recommendations:
21. Develop a long-term target and strategy for net-zero energy for buildings as part of a long term de-carbonisation strategy.
a) Such a target could be set by the CONPES, including a scale that can depict and rachet towards net-zero energy. Such planning should take into consideration the freed up financial re-sources that would otherwise have gone towards energy consumption subsidies.
b) Such a target should focus on new buildings first to avoid high energy and emissions lock in, to be accompanied by efforts to improve the energy efficiency of existing building stock through retrofits and other energy efficiency measures such as appliance standards.
22. Start small and scale up
a) Colombia, together with ambitious international partners could consider a NZEB pilot to demonstrate innovative business models and best available technologies, reward early mov-ers, and push improved practice penetration.
23. Address urbanisation trends by focussing on regions with rapid population growth, including so-cial housing demand
a) The Bogota metropolitan area, Medellin, and Cali are likely to represent the vast majority of population growth and construction. These municipal governments have comparatively good capacity for climate policy action, have the political will, and are already undertaking measures to reduce emissions from building stock, such as through the BEA program. The focus of energy efficiency efforts should be focussed in these cities.
b) In a second step, ambitious medium size cities could be added to capacity building efforts, po-tentially in partnership with already trained colleagues from the larger metropolitan areas.
24. Update and reform the sustainable construction guide
a) Although the sustainable construction guide is currently voluntary for social housing, the asso-ciated costs of many of the energy efficiency measures have come down since the guide was first published. A reform and optimisation of existing practices and technologies can lead to substantial reductions in energy consumption; this can be achieved without further national or international support. Capacity development and the provision of tools to facilitate compli-ance can help stakeholders to comply with reformed mandates.
b) Even for buildings built in the next few years that do not include the renewable energy genera-tion on site (PV and solar hot water heaters), building designs should begin to require roofs that can easily accommodate future installation of such technology. This is a low cost way to facilitate future measures to move towards a decarbonised building sector.
c) Increase flexibility. Moving from a prescriptive list of technologies to an efficiency standard leads to higher savings. Such flexibility reduces administrative burden and allows developers to quickly innovate and react to new technologies and approaches.
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d) Simplify: Baseline setting for sectors is challenging and can become rapidly outdated. Measure-ment of energy efficiency in the housing sector should shift from a ‘% and measures’ ap-proach to ‘absolute minimum energy consumption (energy/square meters)’.
25. Define a robust compliance regime
a) Adherence with energy efficiency regulations should be integrated into the POTs of municipali-ties. These should mandate regular data collection to check compliance, synergies can be found with government planning for the installation of smart meters throughout Colombia by 2030.
b) Define a clear way to show compliance with resolution 549 - develop own certification tool or adopt an existing one (EDGE, LEED, others), and train / equip curadores to check compliance through on-site verification.
26. Beyond building design, implement policies on:
a) Mandatory and regularly updated mandatory minimum energy performance standards can further aid the transition especially for appliances and lighting. This can be accompanied with policies that Colombia already has experience with such as the phase-out of inefficient products as in the case of incandescent light bulbs.
b) Colombia has recently implemented regulations governing net-metering. Further promotion of on-site solar thermal and PV in homes for home owners/tenants can further improve the emissions profile of the Colombian building sector.
c) Develop targeted policies to electrify for cooking and water heating, to reduce natural gas use and demand.
27. Provide incentives to go beyond minimum requirements
a) Instruments of ‚recognition‘, can provide a motivation to go beyond minimum mandated standards, these can include housing labels / stretch standards and competitions and awards (for net-zero demonstration buildings)
b) Incentivise more ambitious developers. Such incentives could include preferential interest rates from local banks for very energy efficient houses beyond the current Bancolombia and Davivienda programmes; reduced VAT rates, and or prioritisation for construction permits.
link incentives to housing labels, stretch codes, certificates that go beyond res. 549 28. Explore a role for ESCOs for the residential sector
a) Such support could include policy support e.g. VAT exemption, subsidised loans or pro-grammes to encourage ESCO collaboration with construction companies.
29. Improve coordination and exchange between stakeholders
a) Alignment between ministries roles and responsibilities for example through special task forces that include a number of different relevant government agencies for example the Envi-ronment Ministry, Energy Ministry and Housing Ministry, and local government.
30. Build new capacities
a) Formalise regulatory roles - who plans, who coordinates, who implements, who monitors, who verifies, who reviews, who enforces.
b) Concentrated effort to build capacity of local governments to integrate energy efficiency and distributed renewable energy generation standards into local planning regulation (their Plan de ordenamiento territorial or POT), as well increase enforcement capacities
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c) Train and expand the number of certified building inspection engineers.
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