This Wednesday in New York, leaders from some of the world's largest cities announced a new program to increase the energy efficiency of city-owned buildings in order to reduce urban CO2 emissions. The agreement was made public at the C40 Climate Summit, which brought city and business leaders together to discuss the urgent problem of climate change.
The innovative building "greening" program presented at the gathering was spearheaded by the Clinton Global Initiative, and will provide $1 billion to finance installation of green building technologies in municipal infrastructure.
The funds for the initiative are being supplied by several leading international banks. Because of the financing mechanisms that these groups have offered, cities will essentially receive the new green technology at no cost. Installing energy efficient technologies is often cost-effective in the long term, and so the plan assumes that cities will pay back the loans with the savings they achieve through the project. The result is unscathed city coffers, and a win-win situation for urban residents, politicians, and the environment.
The plan will initially be introduced in 16 world cities, including New York, Mexico City, London, Chicago, Tokyo, Delhi and Sao Paolo. Thanks to the initiative, these and other metropolises will begin replacing heating, cooling and lighting systems with energy-efficient networks; making roofs white or reflective to deflect more of the sun's heat; sealing windows and installing new models that let more light in; and setting up sensors to control more efficient use of lights and air conditioning.
Proponents hope that success in these cities will result in expanding the program to other municipalities.
Climate Change and Cities
This step is an important one for efforts to combat global warming. While cities cover than less than 1 percent of the Earth’s surface, the activities that take place within their jurisdictions generate an estimated 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Cities are also responsible for 75% of global energy consumption.
These facts have presented city leaders with both a challenge and an opportunity. By proactively addressing their CO2 emissions, this group of mayors is attempting to take the lead in combating climate change. As Mayor Bloomberg of New York City put it, "Unfortunately, it has fallen to the mayors to do it because at the federal level in this country and other countries, they seem to be tied up." If successful, the efforts of local leaders could help to drive change in other areas and sectors.
In fact, improving building efficiency is just one way in which cities can help to mitigate climate change. According to the C40 conference organizers, city governments can also reduce emissions by:
- Better managing landfills and waste treatment plants, both of which are major sources of greenhouse gas emissions;
- Using their purchasing power to influence markets for vehicles, equipment and technologies;
- Setting local land use policies, to influence where development is located and how it is conducted;
- Creating cleaner public transit and transportation infrastructure; and
- Producing cleaner energy in city-owned energy utilities.
Within ten years the world will have nearly 500 cities of more than 1 million people and by 2020 nine cities - Delhi, Dhaka, Jakarta, Lagos, Mexico City, Mumbai, New York, São Paulo and Tokyo - will have more than 20 million residents. Establishing protocols to manage the creation of greenhouse gasses in urban environments needs to happen now, and the New York Climate Summit's proposal represents a promising start.
Related Links:
New York Climate SummitUnited Nations Population Fund
EarthTrends
Urban Population Data
