16 cities to get energy-saving retrofits
16 cities to get energy-saving retrofits
mongabay.com
May 17, 2007
Sixteen cities will get financing to make buildings “greener” through environmental renovations, former President Clinton announced Wednesday at the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit in New York, where mayors and local government officials are meeting to discuss strategies to flight global warming. The green building initiatives will cut carbon emissions and reduce waste.
“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.”
 Former President Clinton and Lord Mayor of Melbourne John So. Courtesy of Elisabeth Robert/C40 Large Cities Climate Summit |
Five companies — Citi, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Chase, UBS and ABN Amro — have each committed $1 billion to finance the upgrades.
Clinton said that buildings are responsible for over 50 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in most cities and over 70 percent in older cities, such as New York and London. Buildings retrofitted with energy saving improvements and installation of energy-efficient products could see a 20 to 50 percent reduction in energy use.
“If all buildings were as efficient as they could be, we’d be saving an enormous amount of energy and significantly reducing carbon emissions. Also, we’d be saving a ton of money,” Clinton said.
This article is based on a news release from the Clinton Foundation’s Clinton Climate Initiative