VZCZCXYZ0018
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #1112/01 2801748
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 071748Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4451
INFO RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RUCNMER/MERCOSUR COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 001112 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV KGHG BEXP ECON ENRG EIND AR
SUBJECT: LEADING THE WAY TO GREEN BUILDING IN ARGENTINA 
 
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Summary 
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¶1.  With green building a major focus of reducing global energy 
consumption and emissions, the U.S.-based LEED standard is gaining 
regional acceptance as a standard for green buildings.  Still, 
reticence in some quarters about adopting U.S. standards surfaced in 
an Embassy-sponsored recent conference on green building.  We have 
been meeting with local promoters of the LEED standard to explore 
ways to further promote the standard and to explore business 
opportunities for U.S. companies.  LEED adoption in this important 
market would help to steer local builders towards U.S. companies to 
source energy-efficient building technology and materials, in 
addition to contributing to global emissions reductions.  End 
Summary. 
 
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Green Building: In Its Infancy in Argentina 
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¶2.  According to UNEP, buildings (construction and operation) 
account for one-third of energy use and associated greenhouse gas 
(GHG) emissions in both developed and developing countries and are a 
major target for energy and emissions mitigation.  The World 
Business Council for Sustainable Development estimates that Europe 
could hit more than half of its target of a 20% reduction in carbon 
dioxide emissions by 2020 solely through increasing building energy 
efficiency.  Much greater gains are available in countries such as 
Argentina, where there are few energy-efficiency building standards 
and little awareness of green building techniques. 
 
¶3.  ESTOff met with Argentina Green Building Council (AGBC) CEO 
Guillermo Simon-Padros and President Carlos Grinberg to discuss the 
sustainable building industry in Argentina.  AGBC was founded in 
2008 to promote LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) 
certification in Argentina.  LEED is a green building certification 
system administered by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and 
provides third-party verification that a building meets a high 
standard of energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions 
reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of 
resources. 
 
¶4.  Grinberg said that Argentina's green building market is 
incipient but contains potential for significant growth, as the 
country searches for ways to reduce energy emissions.  Argentina has 
13 LEED-certified professionals (architects and engineers) and 15 
projects seeking LEED certification, totaling 300,000 square feet of 
new construction.  Building codes for energy consumption are rare, 
and builders are not accustomed to green building techniques, 
despite the potential to significantly reduce energy costs.  (Note: 
Argentina's heavily-subsidized electricity rates provide a 
disincentive for developers to focus on energy consumption.  End 
note.) 
 
¶5.  Grinberg noted that AGBC is working with the municipal 
governments of Buenos Aires and Cordoba, including planned energy 
audits of four public buildings.  The planning department of Buenos 
Aires hopes to include environmental standards in contracts for 
future renovations of public buildings.  According to Grinberg, 
while city planning departments are eager to offer tax incentives 
for green buildings, other officials are opposed to anything that 
would reduce tax revenues. 
 
¶6.  Officials from both the national Environment Secretariat and the 
City of Buenos Aires have repeatedly mentioned in recent meetings 
with ESTH officers that green building is a focus of their energy 
conservation plans.  The national Secretariat has a "sustainable 
construction observatory" working on green building techniques and 
materials.  The Director General of Urban Development at the City of 
Buenos Aires highlighted new energy codes for public and private 
buildings as a key part of the city's plan to reduce energy use, and 
noted that the city planning department hopes to include 
environmental standards in contracts for future renovations of 
public buildings. 
 
¶7.  AGBC's Simon-Padros estimated that U.S. companies are years 
ahead in their focus on energy efficiency in construction, providing 
them with a significant advantage in this market.  He noted 
interesting developments underway in Buenos Aires.  A 27-story 
office building, owned by major Argentine developer Raghsa S.A. and 
currently under construction in the Puerto Madero district of Buenos 
Aires, is one of the first major Argentine projects seeking LEED 
certification.  It includes an elevator system from United 
Technologies, a building management system from Honeywell, and air 
conditioning, lighting, and insulation also supplied by U.S. 
companies.  According to Simon-Padros, Hilton Hotels is also 
examining the possibility of building a LEED-certified hotel in the 
southern resort of Bariloche.  AGBC is supported by several U.S. 
corporations who market their energy-efficient products in 
Argentina, including Carrier, Johnson Controls, and Trane.  AGBC is 
also working with Argentine companies interested in forming joint 
ventures with U.S. companies to manufacture energy-efficient 
building products in Argentina. 
 
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Green Building Conference Reveals Underlying Tensions 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶8.  USGBC appears to be increasingly promoting LEED as a global 
standard.  As part of this global effort, AGBC hosted a conference 
on August 3-4 for industry professionals, academics, and government 
officials to discuss LEED standards, with USGBC CEO Rick Fedrizzi 
providing the keynote address.  As a high-level event sponsor, the 
Embassy promoted U.S green building standards and companies at the 
conference by inviting key contacts from the Renewable Energies 
Chamber and the American Chamber of Commerce, as well as Latin pop 
star and climate change activist Charly Alberti; coordinating 
extensive national coverage in print and television media; and 
speaking about President Obama's initiatives for climate change and 
renewable energy. 
 
¶10.  Green building certification provides an interesting example of 
the delicate balance the Argentines must strike between their 
recognition of the value of U.S. technology and ideas and their 
suspicion of being co-opted by U.S. standards.  Argentina's private 
sector is eager to use LEED as a marketing tool and recognizes that 
a project will have a significant price markup with LEED 
certification.  Many conference attendees welcomed Fedrizzi's 
message that adopting green standards is a smart business decision 
that will lead to increased market value within five to ten years of 
investment and the creation of green jobs. 
 
¶11.  By contrast, Argentina's public sector, while eager to use LEED 
techniques for reducing energy use, "has to camouflage it," 
according to Grinberg, to avoid appearing to adopt a U.S. standard 
too wholeheartedly.  This tension was evident in the conference's 
public policy discussion, where a number of real estate agents and 
architects expressed deep concern that the adoption of LEED 
standards will render Argentina's building sector vulnerable to a 
U.S. decision-making body.  Argentine LEED professionals countered 
that while the USGBC encourages the use of local norms on par with 
or stricter than LEED standards, LEED is already an internationally 
accepted standard. 
 
¶12.  Grinberg stressed that LEED is already the undisputed standard 
across Latin America, from Mexico to Argentina, because it is a 
simple certification process easily applied to any project. 
Competing standards, including BREEAM in the U.K./Europe, Green Star 
in Australia, and CASBEE in Japan, are less well-known and not seen 
as viable competing standards for Latin America.  AGBC intends to 
eventually develop an Argentina-specific green building 
certification process derived from LEED, but currently USGBC 
directly certifies projects in Argentina. 
 
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Comment: Opportunity for U.S. Green Building Technology 
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¶13.  In addition to providing the means to significantly cut energy 
consumption and GHG emissions, LEED certification is a way to 
promote U.S. standards and to create business opportunities for 
green U.S. companies in the Argentine building industry.  The U.S. 
market in green building products was $12 billion in 2007 and is 
projected to increase to $60 billion in 2010.  With buildings 
responsible for at least one-third of all energy use, a similar 
increase in green building is expected globally as part of the 
effort to reduce GHG emissions.  LEED adoption in the important 
market of Argentina would help to steer local builders towards U.S. 
companies to source energy-efficient building technology and 
materials, in addition to contributing to global emissions 
reductions. 
 
MARTINEZ