The World Green Building Council (WGBC) has announced the winners of its Government Leadership Awards and Christchurch City Council (CCC) was amongst the winners.

The announcement came at the Warsaw Dialogue on Scaling-Up Local and Subnational Climate Action – held in conjunction with the UN Climate Change Conference in Warsaw, Poland – and CCC was honoured with the Urban Regeneration Award for its policies and initiatives aimed at rebuilding sustainably after the devastating earthquakes of 2010 and 2011.

Held in partnership with ICLEI and UN-HABITAT, the awards honour local government leadership in green building and highlight policies that maximise the opportunity for buildings to be more energy and resource efficient.

In an acceptance video, Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel said that while the damage caused by the earthquakes had been devastating, the recovery provided an opportunity to promote the use of sustainable practices in businesses and homes as they were repaired and rebuilt.

“This was something the community identified in the Share an Idea community engagement campaign. The council has responded by partnering with agencies and industry on a range of incentives and grants, advisory services, community and industry education, and through civic leadership - building by example. These are helping us achieve the goal for the new Christchurch as a sustainable, safe, accessible city.

“We know the rest of New Zealand and the world are watching this transformation, and being recognised with this award is confirmation we are on the right track to achieving our goal, one set for us by our community that will establish a legacy for future generations,” mayor Dalziel said.

Jane Henley, WGBC chief executive officer, said the awards recognised the efforts of local governments to transform their buildings, communities and their cities.

“They also acknowledge our challenge to implement sustainability measures on a city-wide scale in our increasingly urbanised world. The efforts of all of our nominees are proving that building industry solutions not only reduce emissions but also make economic sense.”

The overall winner of Best Green Building Policy was Vancouver, Canada, for its Greenest City 2020 Action Plan for Green Buildings. An example of excellence in city policy for sustainable buildings, Vancouver’s measures require all new buildings to be carbon neutral by 2020, with a green building code introduced for all developments and a retrofit policy for all buildings seeking renovation permits.

Also recognized was Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, which received the Regional Leadership Award for the Estidama Pearl Rating System – a programme that has bought mandatory sustainability requirements to the city’s construction sector. Seoul, Korea, won a Climate Action Leadership Award for its comprehensive campaign to reduce energy consumption.