May 22, 2009—Only one in six of the 40 largest cities in the U.S. say sustainability is not one of their top five problems, according to a new report from Living Cities, a collaboration of 21 of the world’s largest foundations and financial institutions. The vast majority of city leaders have focused attention and effort on improving the environmental performance of their towns.
In addition to the 80 percent of cities that have listed sustainability as one of their top-five priorities, more than 75 percent of the cities studied say they’ve either already put detailed sustainability plans in place or are in the midst of developing methods for reducing overall greenhouse gases. These targets usually set a goal of reducing total emissions by 10 to 20 percent in the next five to 10 years.
The report, “Green Cities: How Urban Sustainability Efforts Can and Must Drive America’s Climate Change Policies,” evaluates how well cities across the country are working on reducing urban emissions, and lays out the three key areas that will make the most impact in the least amount of time.
“[T]he emerging green economy provides us with unprecedented opportunities—from lowering energy and transportation costs to creating jobs with meaningful career ladders,” Living Cities CEO Ben Hecht writes in the introduction to the report. “In order for this to happen, however, we must intentionally build a ‘gateway’ that connects people and places to these opportunities.”
There are three key planks to a successful green cities strategy that will create jobs, stimulate business growth, and make cities more livable and desirable: building retrofits, green jobs (in large part enacting those retrofits), and public transit enhancements.
For more information, see the Living Cities Web site.
