An international platform showcasing the world's highest-performing buildings — representing their countries and regions.
The World Championship for Energy Savings identifies and compares buildings based on measured reductions in energy consumption, not on design intent, labels or projections.
The Championship is built on a simple principle: only measured results count. Buildings are evaluated based on actual energy consumption data, comparing performance over time under real operating conditions. This creates a common ground for comparison across countries, asset types and market contexts.
The World Championship for Energy Savings (WCES) is a global initiative launched at COP30 in Belém by the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (Global ABC) and led by Action for Market Transformation (A4MT) to accelerate the global agenda to decarbonize the built environment as framed by the Building Breakthrough, the Chaillot Declaration and the COP30 Action Agenda.
Through the WCES, buildings become athletes, countries become teams with measured performance as the only metric.
Rather than comparing means or ambitions, WCES highlight real, measured performance.
Participating buildings submit energy data covering a defined historical period and a monitoring period. Performance is assessed based on relative improvement (%) and absolute energy savings. The objective is not to reward design but to recognize operational excellence and real-world impact.
30% of the energy used in buildings is wasted. If buildings in the 20 highest-emitting countries recovered just half of that waste, global emissions would drop by 5 %. So let's get it done.
Buildings are responsible for 34 % of global energy and process-related CO₂ emissions, 32 % of global energy demand and 50% of extracted resources. This pressure will keep growing as 50% of 2060 buildings are not yet built.
This means Buildings are a climate solution and an opportunity for the sector to reimagine the buildings of the future – while addressing the nexus with industry, social inequalities, energy security, health and biodiversity.
Policies exist.
Technologies exist.
Solutions exist.
But momentum is lacking.
NOW it is time to increase collaboration, align efforts and deliver a systemic, actionable Buildings Breakthrough.
Beyond recognition, the Championship serves as a pre-regulatory laboratory. By identifying what works in practice, it helps governments design performance-based policies grounded in real-world data. From proof to policy, from individual buildings to market transformation. The WCES transforms isolated success stories into collective momentum.
A Diplomatic Tool offers:
The World Championship for Energy Savings (WCES) is a global, performance-based initiative designed to accelerate energy efficiency in the built environment. It enables countries to establish national energy leagues, identify their top-performing buildings, and translate real-world performance into market transformation and policy insight.
WCES is built on a simple premise: only measured performance counts. Buildings are evaluated based on metered energy consumption, comparing performance over time under real operating conditions.
The Championship is structured around four key elements:
Assessment based on real energy consumption data
A common annual cycle aligning stakeholders and enabling comparability
Shared resources, knowledge exchange and capacity building across participants
Governance supported by a robust and transparent methodology
From national endorsement to international recognition, the WCES follows a clear and replicable process:
The WCES follows an annual cycle culminating at COP, where the highest-performing buildings are revealed and recognized:
Changing the approach to energy performance for the built environment will take the whole industry. Let's connect!
WCES is developed in collaboration with:
The platform:
Organisations can contribute by:
The WCES methodology provides a consistent framework to measure, compare and recognize energy performance across buildings, countries and market contexts.
Based on actual metered energy data
Ensuring fair comparison across buildings and contexts
Usable by a wide range of stakeholders
Aligned with recognized measurement practices
Applicable across countries and asset classes
The assessment focuses on operational energy consumption at building level.
National implementations may refine scope definitions to reflect local data availability and regulatory context.
Performance is evaluated based on relative improvement (%). Case studies may also highlight absolute energy savings (kWh) and energy intensity indicators (e.g. kWh/m²), especially regarding new buildings.
The baseline reflects typical operation prior to improvement. The monitoring period captures actual performance under real conditions. Savings are calculated using the standard IPMVP Option C whole-building methodology.
Savings are calculated using the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol (IPMVP)
Buildings are grouped into performance levels to ensure fair comparison. Each level reflects the magnitude of achieved energy savings, from moderate improvements to transformational reductions.
This structure allows both incremental progress and breakthrough performance to be recognized.
Data submission is based on metered energy consumption. Data is self-reported and should be supported by documentation (e.g. energy bills) to be verified by the A4MT.
The methodology is designed as an evolving framework. It is refined over time based on:
