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May 18, 2007
The Cities Speak Green
This week, the C40 group of large city mayors convened in New York City. It was the second such meeting of mayor; the first was held in London two years ago. As you might imagine, the topic of week has been climate change, in particular what each city can do to reduce emissions. I attended breakfast events with Mayor Ken Livingstone of London, Mayor Gilberto Kassab of Sao Paulo, and Mayor Shubba Umesh Raul of Mumbai. Here are a few of the highlights:
1) Transit, Automobiles and Trucks—The congestion charge program has been a great success for London, with 70,000 fewer cars coming into the center city each day, increasing average vehicle speed by 25%, reducing pollution and improving quality of life. London intends to implement a city-wide congestion charge in February, 2008, with a heavy tax on trucks ($400 a day) not compliant with tough Euro 3 emission standard and a differential tax on autos depending on fuel consumption and emission (Prius style electric cars go untaxed). The retail sales in the center of London grew 7.5% in the past year, outstripping the rise in the rest of the UK. In Mumbai, there are 1.8 million cars for 15 million people. The priority is fixing infrastructure, creating more parking spaces underground and adding to bus, subway and rail capacity. The challenge in Mumbai is that 6.5 million people commute into and out of the central business district each day.
2) Garbage—The goal is to improve the rate of recycling. In Mumbai, there is 8,500 tons of new garbage a day, with 60% bio-degradable and 30% recycled. The city is creating large dumps for disposal, while implementing strict cleanliness by-laws with large fines on littering. London has only a 20% recycling rate, half of the average for US cities. Sao Paulo is working with business to capture the methane generated in its garbage dumps.
3) Retrofitting buildings—The homes in London are the source of 40% of the city’s carbon emissions. British Gas has agreed to a retrofit program with a less than two year payback for the homeowner (L550 cost, payback of L350 per year in energy savings). The commercial and industrial structures in London are responsible for 40% of carbon emissions; the owners are now being pushed by city regulators to make necessary changes to the properties. In Mumbai, the city is forcing developers to add solar reflectors in new buildings, with special tax benefits made available for rain water collection.
4) Green Space—Sao Paulo planted 160,000 trees last year and is creating or upgrading 14 parks around the city. Mumbai has a serious problem of overcrowding due to immigration from rural areas, with 57% of the 15 million residents living in slums (90% of new residents go into slums). This population increase has severely strained recreational resources.
5) Energy Sources—London is moving toward decentralized energy production, with smaller power producing facilities distributed in neighborhoods, overcoming the usual loss due to transmission. The city is also pushing for combined heat and power systems, using the heat from energy generation to warm neighborhood homes.
The most interesting change is the acceptance of the central role of business in achieving these ambitious goals. Mayor Livingstone (disclosure: a project client of Edelman) said “Business is more innovative than Government. Our relationship with business used to be ideological and politicized. Now business is asking for government to provide a regulatory framework so they can plan their investments. CEOs are being Loud, Long and Lean with our Administration.”
I believe that PR will provide a critical bridge to stakeholders as business seeks to implement more joint initiatives with government or takes on projects through privatization of services. Ordinary people want change that reverses global warming and improves the environment. PR pros can help companies demonstrate leadership and prove accountability. PR can also help cities by providing an authoritative central source of information on new projects, such as our lowermanhattaninfo.com on the rebuilding of downtown New York City. As always, I welcome your views.
Posted by Edelman at May 18, 2007 12:06 PM
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Comments
I agree with you, and I think PR is a most important role to help all stakeholders to do something right about climate change.
PR Pros are doing something to against Global Warming in PR way.
Posted by: Zion Laing from EPR Taiwan at May 20, 2007 5:51 AM