Mayor of Philadelphia Presented with Innovative Urban Sustainability Ideas for his 'Greenest City in America' Goal
PHILADELPHIA, November 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --
Today at the Greenbuild International Conference, the Urban Infrastructure Initiative (UII) of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) will present a groundbreaking report to City Mayor Michael Nutter on sustainability initiatives to support Philadelphia's goal of becoming the 'Greenest City in America'.
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Philadelphia is the first city in North America to participate in the UII, which is a unique project established by the WBCSD, to show the critical role that business can play in identifying solutions to complex urban sustainability challenges. The UII's 48-page report for Philadelphia was produced by a group of seven leading companies who worked collaboratively throughout 2012 with city officials, as part of a wider program that involves producing similar reports for 10 cities around the world.
Consultations for UII's Philadelphia report involved a team of multi-disciplinary company experts from: AECOM; Schneider-Electric; Siemens; TNT; Toyota; UPS; and UTC, and city officials led by Katherine Gajewski, director of the Mayor's Office of Sustainability.
After receiving the report from Matthew Lynch, Project Director for the UII program, Mayor Nutter said, "Becoming the first American city to work with the Urban Infrastructure Initiative shows that Philadelphia is open to new ideas and ways of doing things. By participating, we hoped to receive valuable, practical insights from some of the world's leading companies. The report outlines specific recommendations and solutions that are applicable here in Philadelphia but will likely also be of interest to many other city leaders in North America."
The UII report for Philadelphia focuses on integrated solutions to meet the challenges of urban sustainability in key areas such as energy, water and mobility, and examines the specific issue of the efficiency and environmental performance of the city's fleet of 6,000+ vehicles. A number of 'quick wins' are detailed in the report, some of which city officials are already pursuing.
Commenting on the UII program's work with Philadelphia, WBCSD's Matthew Lynch said,
"This engagement is a tangible example of how cities can work with business at a strategic level to help realize their visions, while unlocking the innovation capacity of the private sector to develop practical solutions."
Katherine Gajewski, from the Mayor's Office of Sustainability added, "Working with the UII team, we were able to take advantage of outside expertise and perspectives in some of the areas where we thought we could most benefit. The recommendations made are already contributing to our thinking on a next generation municipal fleet and asset management. The experience made it clear that there is significant alignment between the sustainability goals that government and the private sector have, and that both sides can benefit from enhanced collaboration."
PDF copies of the UII report for Philadelphia and 9 other cities can be downloaded from the WBCSD website.
Scaling up sustainable and resilient cities is a core priority area of the WBCSD's new global Action2020 framework. This science-based action plan seeks to engage companies to implement innovative and scalable business solutions and improve the business case for sustainability. The Action2020 framework has been developed by the WBCSD in close cooperation with the Stockholm Resilience Center and the World Resource Institute.
Note to Editors
About the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development is a CEO-led organization of forward-thinking companies that galvanizes the global business community to create a sustainable future for business, society and the environment. Together with its members, the council applies its respected thought leadership and effective advocacy to generate constructive solutions and take shared action. Leveraging its strong relationships with stakeholders as the leading advocate for business, the council helps drive debate and policy change in favor of sustainable development solutions.
The WBCSD provides a forum for its 200 member companies - who represent all business sectors, all continents and a combined revenue of more than $7 trillion - to share best practices on sustainable development issues and to develop innovative tools that change the status quo. The Council also benefits from a network of 60 national and regional business councils and partner organizations, a majority of which are based in developing countries.
About the Urban Infrastructure Initiative (UII)
The WBCSD established the Urban Infrastructure Initiative (UII) in 2010 to demonstrate the value of early strategic engagement between cities and business and the critical role that business can play as the solution provider. UII brought together 14 member companies from key sectors including energy, equipment and transport: ACCIONA, AECOM, AGC, CEMEX, EDF, GDF SUEZ, Honda, Nissan, Philips, Schneider Electric, Siemens, TNT, Toyota and UTC.
They have been collaborating to develop realistic, practical and cost-effective sustainability plans with 10 cities: Guadalajara (Mexico), Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat and Vadodara in Gujarat State (India), Kobe (Japan), Philadelphia (USA), Tilburg (The Netherlands), Turku (Finland) and Yixing (China).
The 14 UII member companies form a dynamic, multi-sector group with expertise in many infrastructure sectors and vast experience in strategy, finance and project management. Their business is in buildings, energy, water, engineering, equipment, materials, mobility and logistics, and support services. Expertise in integrated solutions and systems covers the infrastructure life-cycle, from design to operations and maintenance. They span the globe and, as WBCSD members, demonstrate a strong commitment to sustainability.
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SOURCE World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
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