The Building Energy Exchange (“BE-Ex”) 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.  Richard Yancey, Executive Director of BE-Ex, and Barbara-Anne Murphy, Chief Executive Officer of the Enniscorthy Forum, signed the accession documents at a signing ceremony organized under the auspices of the first ministerial summit of the Enniscorthy Forum.

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.

Richard Yancey, BE-Ex, and Barbara-Anne Murphy, Enniscorthy Forum. 

Richard Yancey noted that “BE-Ex has been working with the United Nations and with partners to advance the principles of high-performance buildings for many years. The memorandum of understanding with the United Nations Environment Programme that has just been signed broadens our activities 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 around the world.”

Barbara-Anne Murphy observed that “We welcome BE-Ex 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.  BE-Ex will be an important part of this project.”

BE-Ex is an independent non-profit organization located at 31 Chambers Street, Suite 609, New York City, New York, USA, incorporated under the laws of the State of New York.  BE-Ex aims to advance energy efficiency in the built environment through stakeholder education, practitioner training, research and demonstration, network building, policy implementation, and project technical assistance, and by raising or developing applicable resources and tools.

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.