C40 & Siemens Announce Broad Collaboration on Cities and Sustainability

NEW YORK, April 19, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) and Siemens today announced a new collaboration, both a technical partnership and a global prize competition to recognize city actions and innovation that will accelerate C40 city actions to combat the impacts of global climate change.

"Cities around the world — particularly C40 cities — are leading the way in taking meaningful actions to protect the planet and grow our economies in sustainable ways," said C40 Chair, New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. "Forming a partnership with Siemens and tapping into their knowledge and expertise will improve our ability to measure the results of our initiatives, advance the most effective policies, and build on the great work already underway in C40 cities. With this upgraded data collection, we will be able to ensure that we are making significant progress in tackling global climate change."

The C40 and Siemens technical partnership is designed to help cities measure, plan, and mitigate their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The GHG Measurement & Planning Initiative will convene C40 cities to facilitate the exchange of ideas and expertise and will deploy technical assistance and local capacity building in C40 cities looking to develop greenhouse gas inventories and comprehensive city climate action plans. Additionally, a newly created C40 & Siemens City Climate Leadership Award will annually provide recognition for cities that are demonstrating climate action leadership.

"We are happy and honored to partner with C40 in a joint approach to fight climate change. Siemens will provide its vast knowledge and experience with energy efficient and sustainable urban infrastructures. We will leverage the Siemens expertise from our urban experts in cities around the world and our Center of Competence Cities together with our partner C40," said Roland Busch, CEO of Siemens Infrastructures & Cities Sector.

The Initiative will provide an additional platform for cities to share expertise and build upon the technical assistance and resources already developed by C40 and Siemens. In addition, the Initiative will support joint problem solving by peer cities that are currently working to develop inventories and climate action plans and can benefit from shared approaches to data collection, analysis, and strategic planning.

The C40 & Siemens City Climate Leadership Award will be granted annually in ten categories and will provide global recognition for C40 cities that are demonstrating climate action leadership. Six award categories, including urban transportation, green energy, and sustainable communities, are open to C40 cities only. Four other categories, including resilience, air quality and optimized city infrastructure, are open to C40 cities, and the 120 cities in the Siemens and Economist Intelligence Unit research project 'Green City Index' (GCI). The first Award ceremony will be held in September 2013 in the Crystal, Siemens' Urban Sustainability Center in London.

The Siemens Infrastructure & Cities Sector (Munich, Germany), with approximately 90,000 employees, focuses on sustainable technologies for metropolitan areas and their infrastructures. Its offering includes products, systems and solutions for intelligent traffic management, rail-bound transportation, smart grids, power distribution, energy efficient buildings, and safety and security. The Sector comprises the divisions Building Technologies, Low and Medium Voltage, Mobility and Logistics, Rail Systems and Smart Grid. For more information, visit http://www.siemens.com/infrastructure-cities

C40 is a network of the world's megacities taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With a unique set of assets, the C40 works with participating cities to address climate risks and impacts locally and globally. The network C40 was created in 2005 by former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, and forged a partnership in 2006 with the Cities Program of President Clinton's Climate Initiative (CCI) to reduce carbon emissions and increase energy efficiency in large cities across the world. The current chair of C40 is New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

SOURCE C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group