The Center for Energy Efficiency EnEffect joined the Buildings Action Coalition (BAC) in partnership with the Enniscorthy Forum, other coalition members, and the United Nations Environment Programme’s Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction to support and advance the principles of high performance in buildings and the built environment.  Dr. Dragomir Tzanev, Executive Director of EnEffect, and Ms. Barbara-Anne Murphy, Chief Executive Officer of the Enniscorthy Forum, signed the accession documents at a signing ceremony organized under the auspices of the second summit of the BAC.

A non-profit organisation, the Enniscorthy Forum in its role as secretariat for the BAC inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) to collaborate on a worldwide mission to improve buildings to reduce carbon emissions while keeping them affordable as well as healthy and comfortable.

The Enniscorthy Forum and its partners will work in collaboration with UNEP to promote and demonstrate the transformative benefits of high-performance buildings and to ensure take-up of best practice methods in planning, design and construction across the world.

Dragomir Tzanev noted that "EnEffect has been working with the United Nations and with partners in throughout Europe to advance the principles of high-performance buildings for many years. The memorandum of understanding with the United Nations Environment Programme broadens our perspectives to global scale with a focus on specific projects and programs that will deliver tangible results quickly. We are pleased to join forces with the BAC both to offer our extensive experience and capabilities and to observe and learn from experiences from elsewhere around the world.”

Barbara-Anne Murphy observed that “We welcome EnEffect to the coalition. The BAC has a significant programme of collaborations underway including outreach, research, academic studies, construction projects and education and training schemes. We will be expanding the BAC’s global membership network to more countries and more construction industry stakeholders. We also plan to mobilise resources and disseminate knowledge, experience and best practices to transition towards zero emission buildings and construction.  EnEffect will be an important part of this project.”

EnEffect is a non-profit organization founded in 1992 in Sofia, Bulgaria in response to the urgent need for energy conservation in all areas of public life. Through its active participation in research and investment projects to improve energy efficiency, EnEffect has supported the efforts of Bulgarian central and local authorities and the private sector for sustainable energy development for more than 30 years. Since 1997, EnEffect has acted as secretariat for the Municipal Energy Efficiency Network EcoEnergy. It supports regional and local authorities in implementing sustainable energy policies and practices. As part of the international EEE consortium (Econoler-EnEffect-Elana), EnEffect manages the Bulgarian Energy Efficiency and Renewable Sources Fund, established with the support of the Global Environment Facility, the World Bank and the Bulgarian government.

The Enniscorthy Forum, located in County Wexford, Ireland, was established to support the United Nations’ sustainable development agenda, focusing on Buildings and the Built Environment, Energy, Diplomacy, Health, and Education. 

For more information see the Memorandum of understаnding.