Report - Shining Cities: At the Forefront of America's Solar Energy Revolution

 

Environment New York held a news conference on April 13, in Albany to release, "Shining Cities: At the Forefront of America's Solar Energy Revolution," a first-of-its kind comparison of installed solar in major cities across the US. According to the report New York is the 8th largest solar state in the country. The report reviews the impressive growth of solar in New York City and Buffalo.

The report also highlights the importance of strong local policies and programs in the development of a robust solar industry in these major cities, and calls out specific cities from the list of those studied for their implementation of best practices.

Infographic - Green Cities Comparison: New York, Vancouver and Copenhagen

Kitchener/Waterloo's Climate Change Action Plan

Late in November, 2013, Kitchener city council unanimously endorsed Waterloo Region's first-ever climate change action plan. The plan will reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by six percent from our 2010 levels by 2020. Waterloo and Cambridge Councils did the same earlier this month.

Event - The 2nd World Intelligent Cities Summit and Exhibition (WICS 2013)

The 2nd World Intelligent Cities Summit and Exhibition, which will be held on the 27th – 28th November 2013 in Istanbul, Türkey. Future development of cities and regions will require the intelligent integration of communications technology, coupled with changing behaviour in how we use this technology, to make our cities and regions smarter and more energy efficient.

This event is designed to help municipalities and regions of all sizes drive innovation, boost efficiency, leverage data, upgrade service delivery and achieve economic prosperity. 

With technological innovations transforming governance, and how citizens, businesses and public institutions interact with each other, it is crucial for you to understand the tools, processes and models required to cultivate “smart” communities and cities. Speakers and attendees in disciplines ranging from science and technology to planning and economic development will present cutting edge strategies to strengthen institutional efficiency, and assess broader commitments to competitiveness and sustainability.

Video - 10 Sustainable Solutions Changing our Cities

In this October 04, 2013, video from VERGE, Christopher Sveen, offers a sneak peek of some of the world's most innovative projects and technologies with the potential to transform our cities.

Infographic - Timeline for Cities to be Impacted by Climate Change

Source: The Independent

Sustainable Cities: Business Opportunities from Resource Efficiency in Urbanization

The exodus of people from rural environments to the cities continues around the world. There are now 7 billion people on earth and it is anticipated that by 2050 there will be at least 9 billion people, most of whom will be living in cities. As of 2011 there were 3.6 billion people living in cities by 2050 that number is expected to almost double to 6 billion people living in urban contexts. Cities must find ways to deal with this massive population influx.

The question that we all face is how to make urban existence sufficiently sustainable so that burgeoning populations do not outstrip the carrying capacity of the local environments in and around these cities. How are we to provide food, water, electricity, roads, vehicles etc. Nowhere is this problem more serious and more pressing than in the developing world.

Flooding from Climate Change will Submerge 1700 US Cities by 2100

According to a study published at the end of July, more than 1,700 US municipalities and a quarter of Americans will be submerged under water due to climate change by 2100. Without a major reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, more than 1300 cities and towns may be under water within a decade. Even with significant emissions reductions it is already too late for many cities including Fort Lauderdale and Miami Gardens.

These are the findings of a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Some of America's greatest cities including New York and Miami could be submerged under water before the end of the century.

Event - Smart to Future Cities 2013

The second annual Smart to Future Cities event will take place on June 11 and 12, 2013. Too many smart city conferences do not distinguish between what is possible in developed countries as opposed to emerging economies. Equally many focus on a futurist vision of what may be possible in the future and not what we can do now. This is often compounded by not giving enough emphasis on the practical roadmap to implementing a future city and how you measure success.

Event - Sustainable Communities Conference and Trade Show

The Sustainable Communities Conference and Trade Show will take place on Feb 13 - 15, 2013 at the Caesars Windsor, Windsor Essex, Ontario.

ICUSR 2012 : International Conference on Urban Regeneration and Sustainability (Event)

This event will take place in Bangkok, Thailand on December 22-23, 2012. The XXXIII. International Conference on Urban Regeneration and Sustainability aims to bring together leading academic scientists, researchers and scholars to exchange and share their experiences and research results about all aspects of Urban Regeneration and Sustainability, and discuss the practical challenges encountered and the solutions adopted.

Help Reader's Digest Find Canada's Greenest Towns

Reader’s Digest is holding a competition for "Canada’s Most Interesting Towns" and one of the categories is "Canada's Greenest Cities." Canadians from coast to coast are welcome to share their stories and images. To participate simply send a story and photos reviewing a town that leads the way in environmental issues and action.

Some of the accomplishments that qualify a city as "Canada's Greenest," include:

Sustainable Jersey Certification Program for Municipalities (Event)

The "Sustainable Jersey Fall Networking Event" will take place on October 23, 2012 at 6:30 pm at Careme's Restaurant in Atlantic Cape Community College Campus 5100 Black Horse Pike, Mays Landing.
The Atlantic County Utilities Authority (ACUA) invites towns and interested members of the public to this event.

The honorable Dr. Ed Mahaney Jr., Mayor of Cape May City, will be the guest speaker and will share his experience leading his community to a more sustainable future. Sustainable Jersey is a certification program for municipalities in New Jersey interested in taking steps to sustain the quality of life for residents. Sustainable Jersey identifies concrete actions that municipalities can implement to become "certified" and be considered leaders on the path to a sustainable community.

Antioch University's Masters Degree in Urban Sustainability

In response to the challenges of global environmental, social, and economic inequality, Antioch University Los Angeles has created a revolutionary new M.A. program to train the next generation of urban problem-solvers. The Urban Sustainability program prepares students for leadership positions in public policy, corporate accountability, social justice organizing, and ecological practice.

The Growth of London's Green Economy

London’s green economy is growing fast and with ambitious green initiatives from the UK government it will keep growing. According to an Innovas report commissioned by mayor of London Boris Johnson, areas like renewable energy and low carbon building technologies are growing the economy and creating jobs. Despite difficult economic headwinds in Europe, the low carbon and environmental goods and services sector grew by more than four per cent during 2009-2010. Some 160,000 people were employed by the sector across 9,000 companies.

Celebrate World Water Day

The United Nation's World Water Day is celebrated annually on March 22nd as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater. This is a day of advocacy for the sustainable management of freshwater resources around the globe.

The theme for World Water Day 2011 is Water for cities: responding to the urban challenge. This year's campaign aims to spotlight and encourage governments, organizations, communities, and individuals to actively engage in addressing the issues associated with urban water management. The objective is to focus international attention on the impact of urban population growth, industrialization and the uncertainties caused by climate change. World Water Day also focuses attention on the impacts of conflicts and natural disasters on urban water systems. 


Key issues discussed on this day include:

• The growing urban water and sanitation demand
• Increased pollution from municipal and industrial discharges
• Climate change and its unforeseen risks and challenges
• Overexploitation of available water resources
• Better targeting of assistance for the urban poor
• The critical role of local governments and other service providers in tackling these challenges

To help draw attention to this day, the UN's World Water Day website is reinforced by social media channels like Facebook and Twitter. Through these vehicles, the website is disseminating messages and engaging people (schools, civil society, and NGOs) in activities and events.

Here is a list of U.N. resources to help celebrate World Water Day:

World Water Day official website
Events Map for World Water Day
Campaign Materials Downloads
Facebook page
TWITTER account
YouTube
Flickr photostream.
World Water Day Advocacy Guide (2.4Mb PDF)
Water and Disasters 21.03.2011 (PDF)
Workshop on International Water Quality Standards/Guidelines for Ecosystems (PDF)
Workshop on UN‐Water Mapping Exercise on Water Quality 21.03.2011 (PDF)

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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World Mayors Summit on Climate

Urban Leaders will present a pact at the Cancun climate talks now underway in Mexico. Mayors from around the world have signed what is known as the Mexico City Mayors Pact which commits them to reduce urban greenhouse gas emissions.

Cities have a tremendous capacity to address climate change. More than half of the world's population now lives in urban areas, they consume 80 percent of global energy and emit 60 percent of greenhouse gases.

This pact includes the signatures of 138 mayors from some of the world's largest urban areas including Buenos Aires, Johannesburg, Los Angeles, Paris, Vancouver and Jakarta. Five cities have already begun providing sample reports of some key actions, commitments and performances.

In a statement, Marcelo Ebrard, Mayor of Mexico City and chair of the World Mayors Council on Climate Change said, "mayors and urban leaders are on the frontline of the planet's fight against a changing climate."

While this may not be a binding agreement, it is a public promise that will be considered by voters at the ballot box. The pact requires participants to post their commitments and performance online, where city residents can look at it.

The monitoring and verification mechanism is called the "carbonn Cities Climate Registry" (cCCR) which will be operated by Germany's Bonn Center for Local Climate Action and Reporting.

Speaking at the Mexico City summit, Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), welcomed the new cCCR mechanism saying it would "help local governments to demonstrate leadership in climate action." She added that subjecting cities to open and independent reviews is a "critical step for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of emission reductions over long-term lines."

Martha Delgado, Mexico City's secretary for the environment said, "Everyone is very excited to participate in this summit because they think that they are going to show national governments that it is possible to have commitments."

Mayors from all over the world are demonstrating leadership through their commitments to lowering emissions. Although most agree that we will not see a binding agreement at COP16, individual cities are taking it upon themselves to lead to way out of climate chaos.


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