Sino-Swiss Zero Emission Building Project: CABR visits Switzerland
4th March 2024 | Frauke Scholvin
In the framework of the Sino-Swiss Zero Emission Building (ZEB) Project, the Swiss implementation team, consisting of intep and Skat, invited the Chinese project lead organization, the China Academy of Building Research (CABR), to visit Switzerland from 15 to 19 January.
The main purpose of the visit was to summarize the results of the project in 2023, to plan the work in 2024, and to report to the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), which is the sponsor of the Sino-Swiss ZEB project. The aim was to promote the exchange of technical knowledge and cooperation with relevant Swiss institutions to promote the realization of the goal of zero-emission buildings.
The first day of the visit was dedicated to work meetings at the intep office in Zurich. The intep/Skat/CABR trio then traveled to Basel to attend the biennial Swiss Building Materials Fair (SwissBAU), where they held technical discussions with the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects (SIA) and the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA). They also visited the Bauteilbörse, a marketplace for used building materials, to learn about its operations. Next, the team traveled to Bern to present the project results and the work plan to the SDC. The final stop was the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) to give a seminar on the study on the impact of the ZEB standard in China.
Through face-to-face exchanges, SDC, the project team, relevant Swiss institutions and experts not only gained comprehensive insights into the progress of the project, but also exchanged in-depth information on specific topics and technical details and improved their understanding of each other. In 2024, the Sino-Swiss ZEB Program will continue to promote the implementation of national and local standards, work on demonstration projects, carry out multi-level capacity building, and motivate fruitful exchanges and cooperation between the two countries on ZEB.
Background
In order to jointly reduce emissions in the construction industry and promote the cooperation between China and Switzerland in this field, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China and the Swiss Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the development of cooperation in the field of building energy efficiency.
Within the framework of this MoU, the SDC initiated and funded the Sino-Swiss zero-carbon building project. The project aims to support China in formulating the technical standard of zero carbon buildings and long-term roadmaps for reducing carbon emissions in the construction industry. This is achieved by contributing Swiss experience and technology as well as building zero-carbon building demonstration projects in different climate zones, while carrying out various forms of capacity building activities, so as to ultimately promote the carbon-neutral development of China’s construction industry.