Enigin Update - Cities to Reduce CO2 Emissions
FROM London through Los Angeles and onto Sydney cities are working hard to become energy efficient, amongst other environmental measures, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The mayors of 58 of the world’s largest cities have come together a the C40 Cities summit, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, over the past three days. C40 Cities are a group of large cities committed to tackling climate change, who through this summit plan a common approach to reporting CO2 emissions.
Cities take up just 2 percent of the Earth’s land mass, they contain 50 percent of its population but are responsible for 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. This means cities are central to achieving national energy efficiency and reduced emissions targets.
Facing budget deficits, with economies trying to come out of recession, city leaders are looking for cost effective ways to reduce energy consumption and also help meet governmental pollution targets.
Portland, Oregon U.S.A., mayor Sam Adams said: “While national governments continue their excruciatingly frustrating dialogue on climate change, we in the cities are acting. It’s sheer common sense. Becoming more efficient with your city’s energy needs means you’re also more economically secure.”
According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), currently there is an annual global spend of $300 billion to $1 trillion on energy efficiency, which may seem expensive but it could slash energy use a third by 2050, with resultant huge financial savings.
At the summit Arah Schuur, the director of the Clinton Climate Initiative’s building retrofit programme, said: “Many of the things you can do to increase the efficiency of buildings….have a very competitive investment return. That’s good for business as well as the environment.”
UNEP executive secretary Achim Steiner added: “The lowest-hanging fruit is in the area of energy efficiency and conservation. If you look at much of the urban infrastructure that has been built up over the past 100 years….it’s extraordinarily inefficient.”
C40 Cities joined with Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI), to set the Global Standard for City Climate Change Reporting, which will allow the monitoring of emissions against targets, help planning and guide investors on the assessment and comparison of plans.
C40 chair, New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, said of the Global Standard: “Establishing a single global standard for reporting greenhouse gas emissions will empower local governments to accelerate their actions and access funding for mitigation and adaptation projects.
“This will enable new efficiencies and create a level playing field for comparing emissions across cities around the world.”
The standard is being backed by the World Bank, which is also partnering with the C40 initiative to help cities find finance for climate change activities. The standard itself will be unveiled at the United Nations climate summit in Durban, South Africa this November.
This should open up even more opportunities for Enigin Distributors to help municipalities, large and small, to improve their energy efficiency, reduce emissions and save on energy costs through installing energy efficiency solutions form Enigin. The future for energy saving businesses is very bright, as they face a fast growing market.
This plan will also be a boost for the energy efficiency industry. According to Tom Rowlands-Rees, an analyst for Bloomberg New Energy Finance, a US plan to cut energy costs in public buildings, already generates $3.5bn of work for energy efficiency companies. Rowlands-Rees said that if similar projects were rolled out worldwide, the energy efficiency market could be more than 25 times bigger.
Picture of São Paulo - Skyline by night by Andre Deak
