
www.buildingsandcities.org/about/zuhaib-batra.html
Dr Zuhaib Batra is a Senior Scientist & Global Policy Lead at EPFL, and Scientific Collaborator at the Smart Living Lab at the University of Engineering and Architecture of Fribourg, Switzerland. His research supports policy-making and industry through developing decision-making tools and evidence-base focused on energy efficiency, IEQ, LCA, sufficiency and decarbonization.
Zuhaib’s expertise is in net-zero & healthy buildings, building physics, building stock data and policy instruments, having led several European and international projects. He is a member of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Annex 89.
Latest Commentaries
Reimagining Climate Action, Community Engagement and Professional Responsibility
Climate change poses a plethora of challenges for decision- and policy-making on multiple scales. Adopting a risk perspective can identify multiple kinds of risk that must be addressed if climate action is to be successful. John Robinson and Emily Smit (University of Toronto), Pamela Robinson (Toronto Metropolitan University) and Anne Gloger (Catalysts’ Circle) consider the decision-making risks having to do with whether climate mitigation and adaptation policies and programs are likely to achieve their goals.
COP30 Report
Matti Kuittinen (Aalto University) reflects on his experience of attending the 2025 UN Conference of the Parties in Belém, Brazil. The roadmaps and commitments failed to deliver the objectives of the 2025 Paris Agreement. However, 2 countries - Japan and Senegal - announced they are creating roadmaps to decarbonise their buildings. An international group of government ministers put housing on the agenda - specifying the need for reduced carbon and energy use along with affordability, quality and climate resilience.