Presentation provided by Harry Verhaar, Sr. Director Energy & Climate Change–Philips Lighting in the Global Mayors Forum Press Conference.

Information Paper: Following the World Business Council for Sustainable Development's (WBCSD) groundbreaking four-year, $15 million Energy Efficiency in Buildings (EEB) research project, a new Urban Infrastructure Initiative has been started recently.

Just a few years ago few people hardly knew anything about the dangers of carbon emissions; energy was cheap and seemed abundant, and economic growth was only spiralling upward. Today we have made a hard landing and are confronted with the interconnected global economic meltdown, energy crisis and global climate change.

With buildings representing 40% of global energy consumption, and cities a staggering 75%, this is clearly a focal area for action. 

The EEB’s report ‘Transforming the Market: Energy Efficiency in Buildings’ , with its unique simulation model and the project’s roadmap to transform the building sector was launched earlier this year, and details of the EEB proposed“transformation roadmap” for the building sector can be found in the report, available on the World Business Council for Sustainable Development website (http://www.wbcsd.org). Printed copies and multiple language versions are also available.  

As a follow-up to the Energy Efficiency in Buildings project the WBCSD has started an Urban Infrastructure Initiative (UII) focused on the wider urban context. Today 50% plus of the world’s population is living in cities and they consume more than 75% of world’s resources. As Bjorn Stigson, President of the WBCSD indicates “With the present intensity of the current urbanization trends – with all of the projected net population increase of around 3 billion inhabitants from 2000 to 2050 living in cities, it is clear that the battle for global sustainability will be won or lost in the cities”. In the WBCSD’s collective business view the urban environment can be the catalyst for system thinking and integrated approaches. The UII project can build on existing ready-to-go components that have already been developed in WBCSD’s earlier projects like EEB, Water, Electricity and Mobility.

Holistic and integrated approaches are not restricted to technology and policy development alone, and in addition strongly favor the early cooperation between the business community and key city networks. The WBCSD is very proud to be working together on this global sustainable development challenge with the Global Mayors Forum. As the Global Mayors Forum is developing into the ‘umbrella’ network of a number of new as well as established global and regional city networks, the interaction between these two leading organizations allows sharing of visions; collaboration on sustainable city developments and gives powerful input to the unprecedented and enormous task of transforming our cities to a sustainable urban environment, where people enjoy to live, work and leisure. The WBCSD will make a difference by adopting an integrated approach and seeking cross-sectoral solutions, validated by models and metrics underlining the economics and financial aspects of the urban transition from a city perspective. 

Today people are becoming increasingly aware of the rational need to change, and policy frameworks are being created to make us ‘have to’ change with sufficient speed. However citizens at large do not yet have a clear perception of what such a sustainable future implies in all its aspects. Therefore the cooperation of the WBCSD with the GMF will allow the creation of more focused communication, aimed at clarifying the concepts and benefits of a sustainable urban infrastructure, thus also engaging its population emotionally next to the rational understanding.  The transition to a sustainable urban infrastructure will only become real when a tangible implementation roadmap is developed and implemented, which is the third area that strongly favors early and close cooperation between the WBCSD business community and the GMF city network. 

All in all the WBCSD hopes that the cooperation with the GMF and all it’s member cities will help to save energy and money as well as cut carbon emissions. In addition an accelerated transition to a sustainable city environment will make our economies more competitive and will add green collar jobs, not the least by the renovation work on buildings and cities involved. This is a unique triple-win for all involved, and will make our cities safer and more enjoyable to live in at the same time, both for the current as well as future generations.

Editor's notes
Currently the WBCSD Urban Infrastructure Initiative has received clear interest from about 90 companies, who have expressed interest or have requested more background material. The WBCSD is also recruiting members to create a balanced group of core companies representing key sectors in the urbanization landscape thus forming a broad resource base for action. The starting point for the project is that there exists a huge opportunity for cross-sector approaches to address the needed systems’ solutions. We are presently working out an UII approach with 15 - 20 companies forming an active core group representing urban planning, building and infrastructure, transport, energy, water, ICT and eco-systems.

About the WBCSD
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is a unique, CEO-led, global association of some 200 companies dealing exclusively with business and sustainable development. The Council provides a platform for companies to explore sustainable development, share knowledge, experiences and best practices, and to advocate business positions on these issues in a variety of forums, working with governments and non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations.