International co-operation

• The joint development of minimum energy performance standards (with the aim to establish higher volumes of energy efficient products or systems, to avoid the need for suppliers to comply with many diverging regulations, and to generate economies of scale)
• The development of standardised test procedures (to facilitate the comparability)
• Development of harmonised energy labels (to increase the level of awareness)
• Knowledge management on evaluated policies and projects, and the development and application of evaluation methods (to compare the effectiveness of single policies)
• The implementation of professional trainings (to exchange knowledge)
• The development of international organisations (to structure and organise energy efficiency efforts)
• The design and implementation of technology procurement programmes, bulk purchasing projects, demonstration programmes and awards (to expand the market for very energy-efficient products and to increase competition)
• For training programmes and for the certification of qualified actors, it can be an opportunity to develop projects on an international basis so as to structure the programmes, to develop harmonised standards etc.

Worldwide implementation status
International co-operation on energy efficiency has long taken place in many ways.
Co-operations of countries exist all over the world. They range from shared knowledge platforms like bigEE, international institutions that structure and organise energy efficiency efforts (from specialised organisations such as IPEEC and REEGLE to initiatives of international organisations such as UNEP and UNDP), and the joint development of concrete policies (standards, trainings, labels, etc.; examples include MED-ENEC, Energy+, and Energy Star).

Governance level
International co-operations are by way of their nature trans-national. However, not only national governments can engage in such co-operation but also local governments, as with the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) or the Clinton 40 Cities, science, and private entities.

International co-operation can address the residential, industry, commercial, and public sector or combinations thereof.

Related sectors

• residential
• services
• industrial

International cooperation can address all kinds of buildings and equipment. The covered building components and buildings depend on the aim of the policy and the design and implementation. For example an international organisation covers a range of several technologies but a training programme can focus on e.g. energy-efficient windows only.

Concepts

• Low-Energy Buildings
• Ultra-Low-Energy Buildings
• nearly-Zero-Energy / Plus-Energy Buildings

The target group and its involvements highly depends on the aims of the respective international co-operation.

Related target groups

• Architect: Demonstration programmes and award competitions
• Manufacturer: MEPS and energy labels, harmonised test procedures
• Investor: Investors will have to comply with MEPS
• User
• Consumer organisation
• Energy agency
• Energy Service Company
• Governmental actor
• Non-governmental organisation
• Research institution and university
• Trade association

Direct beneficiaries

• Architect

  Architects may gain a competitive advantage through participating in an international award competition or demonstration programme

• Manufacturer

  Manufacturers can coordinate the technology development and establish competitive advantages; in addition, their costs of compliance will be reduced through harmonised MEPS and energy labels

• Manufacturer of prefabricated houses

  Manufacturers of prefabricated houses can coordinate the model development and establish competitive advantages; in addition, their costs of compliance will be reduced through harmonised MEPS

• Governmental actor

  Governmental actors benefit from the shared experiences with other countries

• Non-governmental organisation

  They can establish a strong voice for energy efficiency

• Research institution and university

  Institutions can coordinate the technology development and policy analysis

Indirect beneficiaries

• Investor

  Investors can benefit indirectly from the reduced energy consumption and energy costs but maybe even from reduced investment due to harmonised MEPS and energy labels leading to higher savings and economies of scale. They can also benefit from knowledge transfer, if manufacturers improve their products or governments improve their policies.

• Investor-occupier

  Investor-occupiers can benefit indirectly from the reduced energy consumption and energy costs due to harmonised MEPS and energy labels. They can also benefit from knowledge transfer, if manufacturers improve their products or governments improve their policies.

Relevant barriers

• Knowledge and information barriers: International co-operation mainly addresses the knowledge/information barriers faced by the target group, by reducing their information and search costs, making information available for them, and reducing their uncertainties about new policies and technologies.
• Organisational barriers: Often there is no well-defined structure to decide upon and implement energy-efficiency policy development and analysis. International co-operations like the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) or the International Energy Agency (IEA) can organise energy efficiency efforts and reduce complexity. This may enable access to finance, knowledge, and technology particularly for less developed countries.
• Technical barriers: Sometimes the technology or the knowledge of selected technologies is not yet available. Co-operations can provide knowledge, share experience and demonstrate energy-efficient solutions.

Relevant incentives

• Unique selling proposition for suppliers: The fact that partner countries and their industries may have increased profits due to an increased supply of energy-efficient products and services can also drive international co-operation
• Contribution to protection of the environment: The main incentive to participate in international co-operations varies among different countries. In general, the participation can be attributed to governments’ incentive to contribute to protecting the environment and increasing energy security.

In order to enhance its effectiveness, international co-operation that focuses on transfer of, or knowledge exchange on new technologies and policies needs to consider the enabling environment, which a comprehensive policy package can provide. The co-operation of countries will then contribute to improvement of the policy package in a country or elements thereof. This may concern both the governance framework that consists of targets and planning, an adequate infrastructure and funding mechanisms, and the sector-specific policies for energy efficiency in buildings of regulation, information and advice, financial incentives and financing, training, RD&D, and stimulation of the ESCO business for buildings.
The co-operation activities can thus include all kinds of specific policies which can achieve better results with international partnerships. These specific policies are for example minimum energy performance standards, energy labels, information campaigns, research and development, public sector programmes, and financial incentives.

The following pre-conditions are necessary to implement international co-operation:
Agencies or other actors responsible for implementation
An agency or institution that coordinates the international co-operation needs to be appointed or set up. An example is the International Energy Agency, IPEEC, OLADE or the SEAD initiative.

Funding
Depending on the design of the cooperation and the relating policies and measures a funding scheme needs to be available for the international co-operation.

Test procedures
No specific test procedures are needed to implement international co-operation in general. However, the co-operation may have or include the objective to develop or harmonise test procedures.

Steps of design and implementation depend on the aims of international co-operation. In general, it may include the following steps:
• Specifying the subject and scope of the international co-operation (it is often defined by the funding body)
• Defining the targets, specific objectives, and methods (also including monitoring and evaluation) of the project
• Identifying the participating countries and country partners, as well as their roles and contributions
• Implementation
• Monitoring by both project team and funding body
• Dissemination of monitoring results

Quantified target
Within international co-operations, quantified targets, such as potential energy saving, CO₂ reduction, numbers of pilots, etc. can and should be defined. These should be appropriate regarding the scope and objective of the co-operation.

Monitoring
Monitoring depends on the aims of the international co-operation. For example, if the international co-operation aims to develop energy performance standards, the progress in their development and implementation in the partner countries is the major aspect to be monitored. Depending on the design and scope of the specific policies and measures these impacts should be evaluated.
For the future design of the international co-operation it is important to evaluate the interactions and processes. It is essential to figure out the barriers that occurred during the co-operation and to find solutions.

Evaluation
Thus, evaluation also varies depending on the focus of the international co-operation. The co-operation and the advantages and disadvantages should be analysed. This includes the management, the costs and the results.

Relevant individual dynamics and side-effects

• Dynamic market transformation and/or innovation: International co-operation may enhance participating governments’ awareness of energy saving potential, cost-effective energy efficiency technologies, and the need and possibilities to stimulate their adoption through policy, and thus increase the demand for energy efficiency products or services. Particularly co-operation initiatives aiming to stimulate technology or policy innovation may support a dynamic market transformation.
• Avoiding lost opportunities: n general, international co-operations can motivate participating governments to commit to energy saving, which may result in avoiding lost opportunities. For instance, a joint project on energy efficiency standards may accelerate the market introduction of low-energy buildings. Such collaboration can contribute to avoiding lost opportunities in participating countries that didn’t have sound standards before or faced difficulties in terms of standard implementation.
• Minimising rebound effects: International co-operation can also address users’ energy saving behaviour, e.g. by exchanging knowledge on effective education programmes to minimise rebound effects.
• Creating Spill-over effects: If the participating governments take up the lessons learned from the project, the project can maximise the spill-over effect within the individual countries. For instance, international co-operation aiming at knowledge exchange or transfer of energy efficiency technologies may stimulate technology innovation in the individual countries. Besides, if the project is disseminated successfully, the lessons learned from the project can spread to other regions or countries that were not part of the project.

Design for sustainability aspects
International co-operation such as promoting energy-efficient or green buildings can address other sustainable aspects (e.g. resource efficiency, health, etc.) than energy efficiency. Policies to increase the energy efficiency can also add additional water and other resource efficiency, or health aspects

Co-benefits
International co-operation that creates regional markets with higher volumes and economies of scale for low energy buildings can open up job opportunities in the field of energy efficiency products and service.
If countries co-operate in the field of energy efficiency, this might also intensify their relations in other policy fields. International co-operations on energy efficiency can have an influence on economic relations (technology export/ import).

• Knowledge transfer in terms of policies or technologies may encounter very different social, cultural, economic, institutional, climatic, and geographical settings than in the country where the policies/technologies were initially developed (de Coninck et al. 2010).
• Sometimes, intellectual property rights (IPR) also create a barrier to technology transfer (de Coninck et al. 2010).
• Generally, international co-operations may entail the difficulty to find a consensus. Also, it can pose a problem if some countries are less/ more motivated to foster energy efficiency or less/ more willing to share knowledge and experiences.

• Since international co-operations are usually voluntary, it is hard to overcome some barriers because the participants are always representing national interests. Principle guidelines like a Charta etc. can set long-term rules for the co-operation. However, some time might pass before a consensus for such a Charta is found.
• Technologies and policies should be adjusted to the respective social, cultural, economic, climatic and geographical environment. For that purpose, a comprehensive assessment of potential barriers, as a part of the international co-operation project, might increase the effectiveness of the co-operation.

The possible energy savings highly depend on the focus of the international co-operation. Each international co-operation with its specific policy or measure can and should have a specific target of potential energy savings.
However, for some co-operations it may be difficult to estimate the potential savings (for example, if they concern exchange on training or education campaigns).

The costs of international cooperation will vary among different projects. Typically, they are in the range of a few 100,000 to several million Euros.
For example, the total investment of the passive house demonstration project, as a result of the collaboration of German Energy Agency (DENA) and the Chinese Center of Science and Technology of Construction (CSTC) associated with The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD), was 707,482 EUR.
However, the shared experience and the transfer of already implemented policies like minimum energy performance standards and energy labels can lower the costs of designing and implementing a policy significantly.

Given the large differences among different international co-operation projects, it is difficult to estimate their net benefits.
The passive houses in the collaborative demonstration project of DENA and CSTC consume about 75 percent less energy than the average new buildings in China. This project also served as a basis for the provincial passive house code and for the further improvement of the national building code in the mid term (DENA, 2013).