Tag: Boston

According to a 2012 report by The Rockefeller Foundation and Deutsche Bank Climate Change Advisors, there is a $72 billion investment opportunity in commercial energy efficiency retrofits globally that could yield 848 trillion BTUs in energy savings and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 175 million metric tons per year, which is approximately equivalent to the annual GHG emissions from 46 coal-fired power plants. In cities like New York, energy and GHG savings lie in the multi-family housing segment, where 67 percent of the buildings required by law to measure and report their energy usage, are multi-family buildings. That is why C40’s Sustainable Infrastructure Finance Network, brought together policy and technical energy efficiency finance experts from New York City, Boston and Washington, D.C. to share best practices and lessons learned in financing multi-family retrofits. 

The potential threat which climate change presents to the economy, public health, and structural integrity of cities worldwide has recently become hard to ignore. Mitigating climate change requires a significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and adapting to its effects will require cities to prepare buildings and people for changes like sea-level rise and extreme weather events.

By Mark Watts, Executive Director, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group

The United States of America and China are responsible for over one third of global greenhouse gas emissions. This month mayors and other urban leaders representing more than 60 Chinese and U.S. cities, gathered in Beijing at the second U.S.-China Climate-Smart Low-Carbon Cities Summit. These critical leaders in the fight against climate change came together to share strategies and lessons on how to get their cities, and therefore the world, onto a low carbon pathway.

Note: The following text has been adapted from Boston Mayor Marty Walsh's speech today at The Second China-U.S. Climate-Smart Low-Carbon Cities Summit in Beijing. 

Almost every country in the world is becoming more urban. We can say now, as much as ever, that cities are the future. 

This is a trend—one of many—that is bringing China and the United States closer together. As we become more urban, we become more connected: through technology, through economic relations, through cultural exchange. Therefore as cities, we take on greater ability—and greater responsibility—to collaborate, to innovate, and to lead together on the world’s hardest challenges.