President Clinton Launches Large Cities Climate Initiative

LOS ANGELES, California, August 2, 2006 (ENS) - Some of the world's largest cities have pledged to take action to combat climate change under the umbrella of the Clinton Climate Initiative, launched Tuesday by former President Bill Clinton. A partnership between the Clinton Foundation and the Large Cities Climate Leadership Group, the initiative aims to take practical and measurable steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Berlin, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Caracas, Chicago, Delhi, Dhaka, Istanbul, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, Rome, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Toronto, Warsaw, are on the initial list of participating cities, and more are expected to sign on shortly.

Former President Bill Clinton launches the Clinton Climate Initiative in Los Angeles. (Photo by Dan Avila courtesy Clinton Foundation)

"The partnership between my Foundation and the Large Cities Climate Leadership Group will take practical and, most importantly, measurable steps toward helping to slow down global warming, and by taking this approach I think we can make a big difference," Clinton said.

President Clinton was joined by London Mayor Ken Livingstone, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to announce the first project of the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI). British Prime Minister Tony Blair was also present at the signing ceremony.

Mayor Livingstone said, "There is no bigger task for humanity than to avert catastrophic climate change. The world's largest cities can have a major impact on this. Already they are at the center of developing the technologies and innovative new practices that provide hope that we can radically reduce carbon emissions."

For its first project, the CCI will create a purchasing consortium to enable partner cities to reduce energy use and green house gas emissions. The consortium will pool the purchasing power of the cities to lower the prices of energy saving products and accelerate the development and deployment of new energy saving and greenhouse gas reducing technologies and products.

President Clinton and London Mayor Ken Livingstone signing the Clinton Climate Initiative, with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom looking on. (Photo by Dan Avila courtesy Clinton Foundation)

In addition, the CCI will mobilize experts to provide technical assistance to cities to develop and implement plans that will result in greater energy efficiency and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

As part of the first project, the CCI will create and deploy common measurement tools and internet based communications systems that will allow cities to establish a baseline on their greenhouse gas emissions, measure the effectiveness of the program in reducing these emissions and to share what works and does not work with each other.

The CCI suggests that cities take steps to increase efficiency and reduce emissions including:

• More energy efficient lighting for traffic and street lights.
• Building codes and practices that make use of more effective insulation, more energy efficient windows, more energy efficient heating and ventilation systems and more energy efficient lighting.
• More energy efficient municipal water and sanitation systems
• Localized, cleaner electric generation systems
• Use of bio-fuels or hybrid technologies for city buses, garbage trucks and other vehicles
• Schemes to reduce traffic congestion
• Reduction of emissions from city garbage dumps and the use of biomass to generate electricity
• More intelligent design of electric grids both across the city and within office and municipal buildings

Many cities have worked individually to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions but most of these practices are not in widespread, systematic or coordinated use, which reduces their effectiveness.

CCI will engage the largest cities in the world and allow them to be leaders for all cities by making the direct benefits from the purchasing consortium, technical assistance, and measurement and communication tools available to other cities throughout the world.

"Former President Clinton and his Foundation have proved that they can intervene decisively to make a real impact on one of the world's biggest problems, AIDS," said Mayor Livingstone. "On behalf of the Large Cities Climate Leadership Group, I am delighted to be able to enter into this new partnership to rapidly accelerate cities' response to global warming. Our aim is simple – to change the world."