|
Landmark Program to Reduce Energy Use in Buildings
President Bill Clinton today announced the creation of a global Energy
Efficiency Building Retrofit Program, a project of the Clinton
Foundation’s Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI), which will assist cities
in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. This program brings together
four of the world’s largest energy service companies (ESCOs), five of
the world’s largest banks and sixteen of the world’s largest cities in
a coordinated effort to significantly reduce energy use in buildings.
Photo courtesy David Scull/Clinton Foundation
President Clinton, with Mayor Bloomberg and London Mayor Ken Livingstone, announce the Clinton Climate Initiative’s first project: a building retrofit program to facilitate the “greening” of existing buildings in cities around the world.
|
“Climate change is a global problem that requires local action,” said
President Clinton. “The businesses, banks and cities partnering with my
foundation are addressing the issue of global warming because it’s the
right thing to do, but also because it’s good for their bottom line.
They’re going to save money, make money, create jobs and have a
tremendous collective impact on climate change all at once. I’m proud
of them for showing leadership on the critical issue of climate change
and I thank them for their commitment to this new initiative.”
Buildings are responsible for over 50 percent of greenhouse gas
emissions in most cities and over 70 percent in mature cities, such as
New York and London. This program will provide both cities and their
private building owners with access to the necessary funds to make
retrofits—energy saving improvements and installation of
energy-efficient products— to their buildings, typically leading to
energy savings between 20 to 50 percent.
An initial group of fifteen of the world’s largest cities has agreed
to participate in the retrofit program, and offer their municipal
buildings for the first round of energy retrofits: Bangkok, Berlin,
Chicago, Houston, Johannesburg, Karachi, London, Melbourne, Mexico
City, Mumbai, New York, Rome, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Tokyo, and Toronto. These
participating cities have committed to work with the Foundation and
its expert partners to develop programs to audit their buildings
and to implement retrofits that improve their energy efficiency.
President Clinton made this announcement at the C40 Larges Cities
Climate Summit being held in New York City this week, where mayors,
climate officials and business leaders from 45 of the world’s
largest cities are meeting to chart future action in the fight
against global climate change.
| 
