2012 Sustainable Transport Award honors San Francisco and Buenos Aires

Noe Parklet, San Francisco. The City’s “Pavement to Parks” program reclaims parking spaces for public space and has created 20 new and dynamic parklets with more on the way.C40 Cities San Francisco and Buenos Aires were among the four finalists of the 2012 Sustainable Transport Award, granted each year by a committee that includes the most respected organizations working internationally on this issue.

At a ceremony in Washington, D.C. this week, San Francisco took home a top prize for its highly innovative car-parking reform initiatives, while Buenos Aires received honourable mention for opening the country’s first BRT system (Metrobus), as well as its comprehensive investment in cycling.  The pair joins C40 Cities Bogota, Paris, New York, London and Seoul as fellow recipients of this esteemed award since its establishment eight years ago.

This year’s winners are noted for showcasing a breadth of interventions that improve the environment and economic competitiveness in cities -- and put citizens first. “These cities are setting the example of working on various fronts - giving people opportunities through high quality transport options,” said Walter Hook, chief executive officer of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. 

To find out more, read the full press release from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) and EMBARQ, as well as earlier C40 News Team coverage on Buenos Aires award-winning BRT and cycling initiatives.

Hundreds of buildings to participate in London’s retrofit plan

London Mayor Boris Johnson’s plan to retrofit the city’s public buildings is hitting a new milestone. Four hundred buildings are on track for being retrofitted under the innovative program, the Mayor’s office said today, with one hundred of those participating in the program by May of this year.

Mayor Johnson said today:

“Retrofitting London is a win-win, not only does it make perfect economic and common sense by cutting energy costs but it also reduces carbon emissions and stimulates the capital’s burgeoning low carbon economy, creating jobs and boosting skills.”

The program, known as RE:FIT, works to encourage energy efficiency retrofits of public buildings through low cost, flexible loans for energy-saving projects. The award-winning program also provides a team of experts who work with organizations to support their energy-efficiency goals.

The Mayor’s Environment Director Kulveer Ranger – the C40 News Team interviewed him last year at the C40 Summit in Sao Paulo – spoke about the program today at the ESCO Europe 2012 Conference. It’s the only program of its kind in Europe, and people have been taking notice. In March of last year, Mayor Johnson’s RE:FIT program got a 2.7 million boost from the European Investment Bank (read our C40 News Team blog post for more information).

Already, 86 buildings throughout the city have begun or completed RE:FIT retrofits, from 20 London fire stations, to structures at the Royal Botanic Garden. The Clinton Climate Initiative, now a part of the C40, has supported this program from the start, and you can read more about RE:FIT projects in our case study.

Bogota C40 Taxi Pilot Project is Electric

Bogota, Colombia has launched an innovative pilot project to spur the use of electric vehicles (EVs) in its center-city taxi fleet. With this announcement, Bogota joins fellow C40 Cities such as London and Houston in taking action on EVs, as participants in the 17-member C40-CCI Electric Vehicle Network.

In Latin America, the transportation sector is the largest and fastest-growing source of urban CO₂ emissions. Bogota’s 50 new EV taxis will not only help diminish noise and air pollution, but will reduce operating costs and greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80 percent and 70 percent respectively when compared to traditional vehicles.

“This pilot project is very important countrywide and an example for the world because it sets a path to transform vehicle fleets with low carbon technologies, foster green vehicle market increasing consumers’ confidence, and opens a wide window for public and private transportation away from pollution and green house gases emissions,” said Mr. Felipe Targa, Colombian Vice-Minister of Transportation.

Leadership in the area of fuel-efficient transportation is nothing new for Bogota, which is also a test site for the C40-CCI Hybrid & Electric Bus Test Program, which aims to develop a market for fuel efficient, low-carbon public transportation.   

Click here to read more about the announcement.

C40 Events: OECD Roundtable of Mayors and Ministers, Chicago, March 2012

"City leaders understand better than anyone that the stakes are high. We know that on our rapidly urbanizing planet, cities hold the key to unlocking the solutions to climate change.  The upcoming OECD roundtable provides an ideal opportunity for Mayors and Ministers to establish clear principles for local-national collaborations that will be communicated to Rio+20 conference in June." - C40 Chair and New York City Mayor Bloomberg

The City of Chicago will host the Fourth Meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Roundtable of Mayors and Ministers on March 8, 2012, which focuses on “Mobilizing Investments for Urban Sustainability, Job Creation and Resilient Growth.” C40 is a co-sponsor of the two-day event.

C40 Chair Mayor Bloomberg will preside over the meeting, alongside Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, OECD Secretary General Angel Gurría, and Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Shaun Donovan; and he will articulate the meeting’s substantive contributions to the Rio+20 agenda in a speech entitled Messages from the Roundtable to Rio+20.

Acknowledging the growing role cities play in securing a sustainable future, and in preparation for the Rio+20 Earth Summit, Mayors and Ministers will discuss how to drive economic recovery through investments in urban sustainable infrastructure. Topics will include:

• Financing infrastructure investment in the key growth sectors of buildings, transport, and energy
• Innovative urban investments, including national, local, and private investment funds and the importance of public-public and public-private partnerships
• The way forward to Rio+20

To view the roundtable’s agenda, please click here.

India’s Ministry of Power recognizes landmark C40-CCI energy efficiency project

A project developed in collaboration with C40 and the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) received a National Energy Conservation Award by India’s Ministry of Power last month. The project to retrofit the Inorbit Mall Malad, one of India’s largest indoor shopping malls, picked up second place for "Excellence in Energy Conservation and Management."

Inorbit Mall owner K. Raheja Corp Group (KRC) is one of the largest property developers in India and also one of the country’s strongest proponents of building energy efficiency – a commitment which started with the Inorbit Mall retrofit. Indeed, the project’s return on investment, driven by annual energy cost savings of 37 percent, led KRC to establish an exemplary energy upgrade program across its portfolio of buildings, influencing other top businesses in India to follow suit.

“Since this was one of our first building energy efficiency projects globally, we initially had a few challenges establishing its value proposition. Looking back at this now, and seeing how K. Raheja Corp has since extended its energy conservation program to many of their other buildings, and also how many other retail malls in India have followed suit, the question that comes to mind is “why didn’t we act even sooner?” said Pradeep Nair, who leads C40-CCI building energy efficiency efforts in India.

To learn more about the Inorbit Mall project and K. Raheja’s portfolio-wide retrofit program, see our earlier coverage and read a detailed case study.