 Hello, welcome to this Davos agenda impact session on building net zero cities. I am Christina Gamboa. I am the CEO of the world Green Building Council, and I'm very happy to be joining you as your moderator today. Thank you very much for the world to the world economic forum for this invitation in recognition of the leadership of the network of the world Green Building Council 70 Green Building Councils and our impact in catalyzing the update of net zero and sustainable buildings for everyone everywhere. Last year, I had the pleasure to join the board of the net zero carbon cities program at the forum, which is bringing together 70 stakeholders from over 10 different sectors, which are ready to work together to secure that cities all over the world transition to a net zero future. So, in this session, we're very privileged to have you all join us because it's one of the hot topics this year as we go into COP 26 cities are acting, but do do need to do much more to embrace the zero and decarbonize cities and the build environment. It is imperative that we all play our part, and that we embrace the end and deliver the on the uptake of an integrated approach to be able to reduce emissions, crossing energy, buildings and mobility. We will hear that in the session about a great report just published a few weeks ago on net zero carbon cities, which is available in the world economic forums website. We will discuss today, the much needed systemic change required to unlock that low carbon future, and we're very lucky to have here the experts that can take us on that journey. So we can ensure that systems are resilient and that they improve significantly significantly our health and well being. I do believe that 2021 is going to be a great year, and it's going to be a wonderful year to advance the agenda on net zero cities. Last year COP 26 got postponed, but this year it looks very promising as cities and the built environment in general is going to be profiled in the official agenda of COP 26. The built environment is responsible for 70% of global carbon carbon emissions for from final energy use, but has been fairly invisible in the climate discussions for far too long. So that is changing. And without further ado, we will hear from our experts on why this is happening. The conversation today couldn't be more timely, and we will have a session where the panel discussions from viewers all over the world can watch also through the live stream of the forums website. So we will have a detailed discussion later for registered for members and partners. So as this discussion unfolds, please stay with us for for the full session. So a big welcome to all our panelists. We have with us today. He's the chairman and chief executive officer of Schneider Electric France, Francesco star Archie chief executive officer and general manager from an, from an L Italy. Welcome. Grace full high yen. She's the minister of sustainability and the environment of Singapore. We're very lucky to have you here today. Thank you. And John Suikens, he's the chairman of the executive committee of Acrimans and Van Haren from Belgium. So, this is a great topic. 70% of global carbon emissions comes from cities. So, Francesco, I would like to start with you as a fellow member of the board of the net zero carbon cities program at the World Economic Forum. And would you please share with our audience. What is the focus of this program. And what do you think are the plant outcomes that is going to make it a big difference from the perspective of achieving the zero. Thank you Christina. I think it indicated why this is important. I mean, when you said 70% of the carbon emission of the world come from cities. And that should not surprise us because that's also where most people increasingly decide to leave. And the question is, why would the world change if cities do not. And what do we need to do to accelerate this transition worldwide. And the obvious answer is that we have to concentrate on cities. There is an incredible concentration of technologies that is to be found in some geological certification of legacy in our cities. We have things coming from centuries ago, and things coming from last decade. And it's all mixed in there. So, how do we transition into clean electrification into ultra efficiency buildings into smart energy infrastructure. How do we increase the circularity of the economy in cities, talking about waste and water materials, everything that we consume in our lives in these big cities. The answers are very fragmented each technology has its own way and its own recipe and its own way to decide how to improve, but how can a city do it all together. So the question is, how can we harmonize and accelerate the trend that is possible in increasingly make our cities more efficient. The efforts that we tried to put together is exactly this, to make it possible for a city to have a helicopter view of all the technologies that are available and harmonize their deployment into the large metropolitan area, increasing the efficiency of the city itself and improving the quality of life of people living in cities. To do that, we started putting together an incredible group of leaders across industry within public domain so city mayors and administrators, putting together this group and trying to assemble all kinds of inputs that we will look at in order to make this city efficiency efforts, the more synergistic and the more holistic possible. All in all, we think there are great possibilities. The global framework paper today in that was published a few days ago addresses the framework in which we will try and move in the in the next 2021. There is quite a large consensus that it is within reach and acceleration within in cities in this direction. And I think that 2021 would be a year of delivery we will put down a work hard at the toolbox of solution best practices examples for transportation checklists, you know, what if we want the part of this but I think it is not going to be boring it's actually going to be useful. So then the next step of this effort having put together this big team and also a little bit the conceptual framework will be set down and writes the toolboxes and efficient practices that will make cities step ahead in this in this effort. And like I said before, what happens in cities drives the development of the world. So that's the focus of our effort in the next 12 months. That's wonderful, because also the world in some geographies is still urbanizing at a very high rate. So even for for cities that are retrofitting for cities that are planning to grow, right. There are some key things and key considerations that can change the future. Right. And also address the past and address the carbon budget we already have built there in cities. And let's not forget, there are many different archetypes of cities, small, large, all new growing, not growing. There are plenty of different situations in cities. They all have in common the fact that technology enables today in cities, incredible improvements in quality of life and efficiency in energy use. Totally. And we have the wins of the clean energy transition behind us. No, which is very favorable. Thank you so much for those considerations. Jennifer's calm. Welcome to the session. So you're from your perspective also, could you please share why you feel that this decarbonization of cities is so critical as the integrated approach that you're advocating in this way paper. Hi, Christina. I'm building on what Francesca introduced. I think the somewhere the passion of the group working together is about making things happen, right, because I believe that today we're all convinced that our cities have to be better on have to put together a journey toward net zero. But the question is that the city is a sum of systems, which are all intertwined. And if you move one of the subsystems without moving the rest of the system, then you go nowhere and actually you limit the results of on your objective or your capacity to reach your objective. So, make it simple. We want things to happen. Now it's time for action though, trying to focus on practical toolboxes for all the stakeholders that participate to the journey to net zero to work together. I'm thinking if I try to simplify around four topics. The first one is to make sure we map the connections between the different critical systems related to decarbonization on journey to net zero. Subsystems are often siloed of course digitization smart city smart grids are helping to connect the dots, but it's still a sum of very siloed systems which, which don't communicate enough to drive to a coordinated on an impactful change. So, first point is, we are making sure we are trying to work with a group to put together a clear mapping of the most critical connections of the subsystems so that they progress together. The second one is to work on a practical grid of analysis to help urban stakeholders to understand where they are on where we are on the net zero journey for the authorities for the mayor for the city or for the communities. It's a tool to assess and benchmark the degree of preparation of their assets on infra, but for the financial actors because there is a lot of capital nowadays would like to finance the evolution of infrastructure. It on there sometimes wonder how they can really qualify that an investment is going to the right direction. It's a tool of common dialogue between cities on between sponsors to make things happen. So let's say a common grammar on referential to make sure that we everybody has the same understanding or a common understanding of the journey. So let's say that this has happened in the building space in in the past years with a number of certification which have been adopted by many cities expanded to the environment of the city to make sure that there is a more global understanding and a more global sharing of what's happening. The third point is about best practices. I mean, people around this, this call in this group are building a ton of good solutions, progress solutions that can be shared better on create the right exchange place so that people can get inspiration on cookie paste of the best solutions which have been deployed. The fourth point is really understand what are the links with other collateral when we do that what could be the other benefits that we can generate and try to put to qualify them. Let's make an example. The rate of retrofit of the cities that say just one example in Europe, cities will be retrofitted for their building is in 200 years, at least, which, of course, doesn't fit with with a 1.5 degree trajectory using new technologies on a new way of doing we can reduce that by a factor probably of 10, which makes it 20 to 30 years, much more acceptable for all of us probably around this around this school. So how do we address this acceleration of retrofit. What are the additional jobs to be created to make it possible. Can we associate that to a request which is special in post COVID is coming up like elsewhere being the necessary while the evolution of buildings on common spaces so that they become more LC. Those are the things that we would like to approach on illustrate the correlation together with a main topic of net zero cities. So in a nutshell, this, these are the four points on which we are focused at the moment. That's excellent, because there's a great demand for transparency from data you mentioned, as I said, there were the winds of the clean energy transition picking up. There's also the winds of the responsible investment movement, and this transparency and accountability of investments and better assets also requires cities to address digitalization right and and that I would like to follow up from you were saying that digitalization trend is also at the forefront in the in the context of living. So that that access to data in that systemic approach right you said was will be unlocking opportunity for citizens for public policy makers and also for business to better address what are those needs. What do you see this happening in terms of the update and how do you feel the systemic approach. Frankly, I believe that digitalization is a fantastic disruption now that it is applying to the Internet of things that means connecting our cities to the citizens of the cities and connecting the various subsystems of the cities together. It is somewhere the technology enable to a better systemic efficiency and it was not existing before so we shouldn't take it lightly what was not possible before is now possible. So I'm going to be very quick because I'm sure that many people have to speak around this from table but think about it with digital you can measure everything on inefficiency what you measure gets done. Measurement is a base of progress. It's a tool for efficiency everywhere in buildings in all networks really everywhere. It's the necessary connection between silos between renewable generation into a super efficient and modulated buildings into a smart with that allows us to share better. It's a place where you can share data between the stakeholders take the building example between the design house between the contractor between the utility between the user suddenly you have transparency of what what on people working together on the improvement of the same facility is a way to connect people to the city. I mean to know if there is an available parking lot in this parking if I can go to canteen because I free space you can really share better and be more efficient. It allows for traceability of resources. Therefore this is a first pass to circularity. So getting things connected is really essential to this progress on that was not possible before but the recent take off fast take off of Internet of Things big data artificial intelligence plus mobile tools make that this space is evolving very fast. Totally the transition has been amazing. We're very lucky. I missed the disruption that that's a very positive trend that has emerged. Thank you so much for sharing those thoughts. Minister foo. In terms of the experience and the leadership of Singapore Singapore. It has been a great. Yeah, let's say proposer of solutions in this space where sustainability has been key in the development of the city state. Could you please give us one of the key lessons from your perspective that has accelerated a better performance of the city in terms of continuing to address its agenda in climate action and decarbonisation and what is your big challenge in the months to come. Thank you very much. It's a great question. And you know, look, just hearing Francisco and Jen Pascal is so inspiring to see so many people thinking about this important issue. And in Singapore is a city of the same time is also a country where only seven hundred square kilometers housing five and a half million population. We are very renewable energy constraint. So we have many, many challenges. If you a Christina, if you give me the time I can tell you the tons of challenges that we have. But because of our constraints because of challenges we are forced by circumstances to always think out of the box. And I think many solutions up there in other countries in other cities are really good examples for us to to consider. And if you think about the advantage of Singapore really because of our smallness because a lot more integrated decision making is also very comprehensive. I would like to think that we are very data driven. Just thinking John Pascal's, you know, points about really giving us the data to work on. We like to have data from different systems to like us understand the, you know, total carbon footprint that we have. So I like to think that Singapore government is really doing the other things that the citizens of the cities are doing as John Pascal has described. We want to make those data transparent to the people. We like to think about our plans in a very holistic way. Sustainability actually as as Francisco has it is so integrated is not just the work of one single ministry or one single agency involves so many of our lives that actually you need all parties to come together. So we like to start with looking at our total carbon emission sectorally and the lies where are the big emitters and then very systematically goes through sectoral target setting so that all the agencies that are involved have a clear understanding of where the projection where the trajectory and how to get there in time. We also want to take a very disciplined approach to look at the cost benefits of technologies. There's so many technologies out there some of them are more mature than the others. So for us to that not to look into any technology prematurely. So we have a disciplined way of looking at the common abatement versus the fiscal cost needed so that we can come up with a very clear understanding of what are we to do what are the steps to do. And importantly this framework actually allows us the government agencies across the board to have a common discussion about the plan. Let me just give you an example looking at public transportation. We want to make public transportation a lot more carbon efficient. How do we intend to do that. A subway station 10 minutes away from 80 percent of our population. We want to move into electrification of our vehicles by 20 40. The entire fleet will be electrified. We also want to make our public feet 50 percent of our buses to be electrified in 2030. In order to get there. Obviously we need our energy ministry to also think about supplying the charging points. Because it's one thing about having some parts some electrical vehicles. But if you have to go 100 percent of your fleet electric to go electric. It's going to distribute the electric points all the way all around the country to every community. And that requires collaboration required agreement by all agencies and agreement with the community as well. There is also an opportunity as some of the gentlemen have said opportunities for businesses to come in because the rules will change as technology disrupt the way that we do things. Do we still need to own cars can car sharing be more prevalent. So are we able to reduce wastage in capacity of vehicles if you are able to do car sharing a lot more where charging points will become the sharing point. So there are many of such examples that will be very exciting for us as a city as a country over the next few years to look at integrating our policies making sure that as we move collectively towards carbon neutrality. We are integrated we are moving along with everyone the community the financiers as well as all agencies of the government. That's wonderful. That's a great vision. And thank you so much for sharing with those those dates for for the changes in EV vehicles. That's going to unlock also a better collaboration with other solutions and make it more integrated. So that's wonderful to hear. That's going to unlock a good revolution of cleaner solutions for the city and developing on that. Now I would like to bring in. Hey, Jen, so it can. Hi, Jen. And building on what the minister was saying, right about also making the points of transportation closer to having a better quality of life that you don't have to move around the city so much. Do you agree on that solution and how to better, let's say capitalize on those developments right to further the integrated approach. What do you think about those type of solutions. Thank you Christina for having us. I would like to come back to something you said early on. I think this is the ideal time to have this these discussions, as you know, there is a lot of money available public funds, as well as private funds to invest in you know ESG compliant projects and building smart cities, building compact cities, building sustainable cities certainly answers to these to these questions. But in order for for for that to happen, I think we have rather to think in terms of neighborhoods, rather than buildings. Make sure that what we create is in terms of neighborhoods that they are livable that they are sustainable, and that they are affordable. And what I mean by that is, and certainly the pandemic crisis has learned that we have to integrate all of the functions as well. We are working we are living, we are looking for entertainment whether this sport or culture, we need to greener our environments, and all of that will help us making these environments more livable sustainable resilient environments is even more important. And in that aspect, we have to think about a life cycle approach to both construction, as well as investing. And, which means that you know circularity and it has been referred to is becoming more important, making sure that you know we we use new materials reusable materials. We make it and our colleagues refer to it, our environments our buildings more energy efficient. Yeah, and data will certainly help so doing resilient, we have to use the existing space. We have to think about how to renovate existing heritage buildings. We have to think about how to re repurposing existing assets. We have to think about how to make sure that you know the available space becomes more flexible, so that over time, we can adapt the environments to new needs and affordable. I think and it was referred to as well. We have to think about smart engineering and think long term, as I mentioned in terms of what you know how environments could change and how we would need to adapt the existing existing space. We have to think about model building so that that you know it's cheaper to build as well. We have to think how to reuse when we renovate cities, how we reuse the existing materials. And then, as I said, it's, it's, we have to make sure that the living spaces are become more mixed, and we have to be to be more inclusive in terms of the housing we we generate. So, I think that this is the right time, public private partnerships are looking for ESG compliant projects. But we have to make sure that you know we you know we create new environments, and we have in and we apply indeed what is being referred to in the study. We have to apply an integrated approach to the problems that that we are facing that they are and that, in fact, a huge opportunities. You touched some very important concepts in your intervention, all of you have, but I would like to flag a whole life approach, the whole life cycle approach, because any success in decarbonization, and the integrated approach will have to think of the infrastructure, how we design and build today and what the performance in the decades to come. You were talking about heritage, heritage we have to address, how is it fit for purpose today, and possibly it's a very sustainable infrastructure, it already exists, right. It probably has a carbon budget still to pay off. And we need to make it, let's say, integrated into the functions of the city so the lessons from Singapore and Minister for also the city developments have been mixed use quality housing. And I guess what we're talking here is about quality infrastructure in cities that can really unlock our best health and well being while addressing the responsibility we have in terms of having cities meet the Paris agreement and deliver of course on the sustainable goals. And on the ESG criteria of course infrastructure has to disclose. People are being picky, more picky in what are the let's say the ingredients that go into what they're investing on, and these type of solutions are the ones that are going to be quality infrastructure that are going to have a green premium in terms of value, and probably assets that are not addressing the questions that this approach moves forward will have a brown discount. And as we move forward, we will have a certain virtual cycle where we can grow better in the context and technologies that in the unlocked is the carbonization of the built environment. Thank you so much. I guess, with that, we have a few more, a few more minutes, and I would like to go back to Francisco, and in terms of, if you could just say a few final words, what should key stakeholders, and let's say commit to in this new path forward towards decarbonizing decarbonizing cities through an integrated approach. Thank you Christina and then again, you've heard incredible. Let's say perspectives here and, and I think if you look at what happened for example during 2020, which we all know was a major disruption in the way in which we live in cities, mostly in most parts of the world. You can imagine a city in 2019 and then you can imagine a city now, and in between we have a 2020 in which we experienced our cities in a completely different way. And we have all learned to live in these cities in a completely different way. And so the reflection here is, how can cities adapt to ourselves they have been doing that all the time. We have changed our cities in centuries, we have kept working at them. The question today is that we are doing it in a more conscious manner in the dimension of what impact the city has on the world. This is the first time I think in the Israel mankind that we look at it, we look at cities this way. The cities, the way in which we live in them and the way we use them and shape them shapes the world. And so what we do within cities is super important. And I think here the lesson that we learned is that cities are like human beings are like living organic beings, they continuously change. The task for administrators of cities has never been more complex than it is today. I think it's fair to say from Minister Fu's intervention that you would argue that a city administrator should have also some knowledge of physics, if he wants to do the proper job, which is not that normal in most of the times. You have jobs, you have knowledge of physics, you need to have knowledge of biology, you need to have knowledge of chemistry. I think this COVID has just imposed unprecedented challenges on us. And I would just like to say, I totally agree with you, Francesco, that the pandemic has essentially taught us to make us think about the resilience of a city. I think in the past it's always about efficiency, it's about getting the work done faster, you know, getting to where we one point to another with shorter speed. But I think right now it's about resilience, right? How do we have better hygiene? How do we have better public health? How do we make sure that there's, you know, space for individual, for reflections? I think these are all very important points and obviously it's going to change the way that we work. Because right now I think most of the buildings in most cities are probably operating at half the capacity because people are working from home. And I think increasingly, you know, there's, you know, this thought about what do we do with this wasted capacity. Well, you can, you can argue that you can also. Yeah, the heating is working 100%, the cooling is working 100%, but it's only half filled. So IOT, how do we use Internet of Things, sensors to tell us where the cooling heating needed, how do we adjust it so that it is optimal and we can reduce the cover footprint of buildings. And I think these are all food for thought. And I think in Asia, in Southeast Asia, particularly that the cities are growing, the population is young. And I'm sure, you know, it will be good investment, many good investment propositions for financiers. Yeah. And I think you can also make a point that while the office space is underutilized, the home space is overutilized. So there is another point that is how do we change our homes? Do we change our homes going forward? So there is a continuous adjustment that needs to be to take place. And here I think, you know, the efforts that we have to put forward is was underlined by Jan. There is a public private partnership space that needs to be broadened and brought to fruition. This is a word always used and not that much put into context properly. There is a lot of resources and money available for this kind of effort. This is out of question. And there is an issue of deciding and agreeing on metrics, not on single buildings, neighborhoods, on cities, not on single technologies, on holistic technologies, but that cannot be measured cannot be done. So I think this was said very clearly by Jean Pascal. Today we have the tools, we have the digital dimension that helps a lot. Let's put it to work because it is really what will make it happen. In 2021, I think we will try and put this learnings to fruition and provide some kind of baseline of tools to try and help the administrations of cities to do their very, very, very difficult job. Amazing. Thank you so much. That exchange was part of why this topic is so important to address because there is a demand for those solutions. There they exist. There is the space to improve the quality of life and the moment could be more couldn't be more timely. So thank you everyone. This closes the first portion of the session and I would like to thank our great panel for joining us today, as well as the audience that has joined us.