Improving Energy Efficiency for All: Lessons on Sustainable Building Retrofits from Shanghai, China

Worldwide, urban areas consume between 60% and 70% of total primary energy,1 of which buildings account for close to half. With trillions of tonnes of carbon-intensive concrete already poured, and many of the buildings that will be operational for decades to come already built, improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings through retrofit is often a priority for climate action.

In Shanghai, China, one district has emerged as an example of leadership in China’s green buildings sector. Changning District established a dedicated entity – the Changning Low Carbon Office – to coordinate energy efficiency retrofitting efforts. Additionally, the District created China’s first online platform for monitoring the energy performance of buildings and is working with municipal and national government to offer subsidies to incentivise investments in retrofitting. Thanks to effective collaboration between all tiers of government, retrofits have been rolled out across almost half of the district’s public and commercial floor space, with energy reductions of between 20% and 30% per building. This reduction is preventing the emission of around 190,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) annually – the equivalent of removing 65,000 cars from Shanghai’s streets.