URB-D.02.D - Secure and Resilient Energy Transition Progress
Does the company report progress in transitioning to a more secure and resilient energy system?
About the data
The WBA Urban Benchmark measures and ranks the world's most influential companies on their efforts to shape sustainable, inclusive and resilient urban environments, tracking how companies address essential urban needs while respecting planetary boundaries across dimensions including decent work and human rights, environmental and climate impacts, social inclusion, and sustainability leadership. The 2026 edition assessed 300 companies across four key industries shaping urban environments: real estate, construction and engineering, transport, and utilities. Companies were scored on 24 urban-specific indicators plus 18 core social indicators, spanning four measurement areas: sustainable governance, inclusive cities, healthy cities, and climate change and resilient cities. The benchmark is designed to incentivise the private sector to take adequate responsibility for its role in ensuring affordable, safe and inclusive urban environments for all. More information can be found here.
Methodology
As contributors to 80% of the world’s GDP (The World Bank, 2023), urban areas require an
uninterrupted supply of energy to function. The high concentration of economic activities in urban
areas means they are also a major consumer of the global energy supply, consuming up to 75% of
global primary energy (UN-Habitat, 2023). Achieving sustainable urban development requires
prioritising energy efficiency across all urban assets, transport infrastructures and service provision,
while also embracing the broader energy transition towards cleaner, renewable energy sources. Urban
companies should align their strategies with global decarbonisation goals and foster the adoption of
renewable energy and technologies contributing to both energy efficiency and the energy transition.
Research Guidance
The company must demonstrate monotonic, quantitative progress in transitioning toward more resilient, secure, and sustainable energy use with measurable and comparable metrics over the previous three years (i.e. three years in a row with continuous year-on-year improvement). This element should exclude evidence that is considered in element c, increase in renewable energy, etc.
The company can demonstrate quantitative progress in cross-sector metrics or sector-specific metrics (see the list of accepted metrics below - metrics not included above will be assessed on a case-by-case basis):
Cross-sector metrics: use of or investment in new technologies; moving to more energy-efficient buildings, facilities or equipment; phasing out fossil fuels; investing in clean technologies
Sector-specific metrics:
- Real Estate: (1) existing buildings being retrofitted toward alignment with energy-related building codes, standards, or criteria, to further become zero-carbon-ready or zero-energy buildings. (2) new buildings designed/built aligned with energy-related building codes. (3) use of low carbon/energy efficiency materials. (4) use of energy-efficient appliances or systems. (5) applying grid interactive energy-efficient techniques/systems to buildings. (6) buildings achieve energy self-sufficient level without the need for external energy sources. (7) having utility or thermal meters to monitor and reduce the stress on the grid from peak loads.
- Construction: 1) existing buildings being retrofitted toward alignment with energy-related building codes, standards, or criteria, to further become zero-carbon-ready or zero-energy buildings. (2) new buildings designed/built aligned with energy-related building codes. (3) use of low carbon/energy efficiency materials. (4) use of energy-sufficient appliances or systems. (5) applying grid interactive energy-efficient techniques/systems to buildings. (6) buildings achieve energy self-sufficient level without the need for external energy sources.
- Transport: (1) investment in vehicle technology, energy carriers and alternative fuels. (2) electrification of vehicles (3)increase trips to be by active transformation and transit.
- Ride Hailing: (1) electrification of vehicles (2) optimise the rate of ride-sharing, trip matching and travel demand model
- Energy: (1) increase the efficiency to restore, respond, or recover from energy disruption events, i.e. shorter the average time length to recover, reducing the duration of power outages. (2) increase the share of renewables in generation or capacity. (3) reduction in energy distribution redundancy. (4) increase in energy source diversity. (5) investing in enhancing grid resilience. (6) population with access to electricity
- Waste: (1) investment in renewable energy generation. (2) optimize waste collection routes. (3) electrification of vehicles.
- Water: optimize energy efficiency in water supply systems
uninterrupted supply of energy to function. The high concentration of economic activities in urban
areas means they are also a major consumer of the global energy supply, consuming up to 75% of
global primary energy (UN-Habitat, 2023). Achieving sustainable urban development requires
prioritising energy efficiency across all urban assets, transport infrastructures and service provision,
while also embracing the broader energy transition towards cleaner, renewable energy sources. Urban
companies should align their strategies with global decarbonisation goals and foster the adoption of
renewable energy and technologies contributing to both energy efficiency and the energy transition.
Research Guidance
The company must demonstrate monotonic, quantitative progress in transitioning toward more resilient, secure, and sustainable energy use with measurable and comparable metrics over the previous three years (i.e. three years in a row with continuous year-on-year improvement). This element should exclude evidence that is considered in element c, increase in renewable energy, etc.
The company can demonstrate quantitative progress in cross-sector metrics or sector-specific metrics (see the list of accepted metrics below - metrics not included above will be assessed on a case-by-case basis):
Cross-sector metrics: use of or investment in new technologies; moving to more energy-efficient buildings, facilities or equipment; phasing out fossil fuels; investing in clean technologies
Sector-specific metrics:
- Real Estate: (1) existing buildings being retrofitted toward alignment with energy-related building codes, standards, or criteria, to further become zero-carbon-ready or zero-energy buildings. (2) new buildings designed/built aligned with energy-related building codes. (3) use of low carbon/energy efficiency materials. (4) use of energy-efficient appliances or systems. (5) applying grid interactive energy-efficient techniques/systems to buildings. (6) buildings achieve energy self-sufficient level without the need for external energy sources. (7) having utility or thermal meters to monitor and reduce the stress on the grid from peak loads.
- Construction: 1) existing buildings being retrofitted toward alignment with energy-related building codes, standards, or criteria, to further become zero-carbon-ready or zero-energy buildings. (2) new buildings designed/built aligned with energy-related building codes. (3) use of low carbon/energy efficiency materials. (4) use of energy-sufficient appliances or systems. (5) applying grid interactive energy-efficient techniques/systems to buildings. (6) buildings achieve energy self-sufficient level without the need for external energy sources.
- Transport: (1) investment in vehicle technology, energy carriers and alternative fuels. (2) electrification of vehicles (3)increase trips to be by active transformation and transit.
- Ride Hailing: (1) electrification of vehicles (2) optimise the rate of ride-sharing, trip matching and travel demand model
- Energy: (1) increase the efficiency to restore, respond, or recover from energy disruption events, i.e. shorter the average time length to recover, reducing the duration of power outages. (2) increase the share of renewables in generation or capacity. (3) reduction in energy distribution redundancy. (4) increase in energy source diversity. (5) investing in enhancing grid resilience. (6) population with access to electricity
- Waste: (1) investment in renewable energy generation. (2) optimize waste collection routes. (3) electrification of vehicles.
- Water: optimize energy efficiency in water supply systems
License
Topics
Framework Mappings
Value Type
Category
Options
Yes
No
Assessment
Steward Assessed
Report Type
Aggregate Data Report