CCI History
Progress at a Glance
Cities
Prior to the creation of CCI, many cities around the world had the desire to address climate change — but no roadmap nor concrete steps for real or long-term change. CCI has helped cities to address these challenges. We are proud that, since our launch in 2006, our accomplishments include working on 250 individual and multi-building retrofit projects around the world — already over 400 buildings are in or have completed construction and will prevent the release of over 120,000 metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year; catalyzing 30 waste management projects around the world that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 2 million tons every year; and 17 outdoor lighting retrofit projects in development in 16 cities, 8 of which are in the implementation phase and will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 65,000 tons per year.
Forestry
Governments of forested countries wanted to attract financing for sustainable forest management projects that measure forest carbon, avoid deforestation, restore forests, and alleviate poverty. CCI is working with government partners, including Cambodia, Guyana, Indonesia, Kenya, and Tanzania to deliver 10 projects that will encompass 644,000 hectares of land and benefit more than 353,000 people in forest-dependent communities. CCI’s work to develop measurement, reporting and verification systems will generate accurate information on the carbon content of 63 million hectares of forested land.
Clean Energy
Governments attuned to the challenge of meeting rising energy demands while stabilizing the climate are urgently seeking ways to increase their renewable energy supply. CCI is supporting governments in Australia, India, Morocco and South Africa, by advising on policy, and assessing the feasibility and financing options of large-scale projects.
December, 2010
Rio de Janeiro, the first city in CCI’s Latin America Hybrid Bus Test Program tests a hybrid bus that will generate approximately 30% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than a traditional diesel bus. The Latin America Hybrid Bus Test Program was created by CCI and is supported by a $1.5m grant from the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). The Program aims to improve the fuel efficiency and reduce emissions of public transportation in Latin America by developing a regional market for hybrid bus technology. It is exploring the potential to deploy 9,300 hybrid buses in the region by 2016, reducing CO2 reduced by more than 566,000 tons. In addition to Rio de Janeiro, the program is now being developed in Bogotá, Curitiba and Sao Paulo.
November, 2010
CCI supports the validation process for the 90,000 hectare Rimba Raya project in Indonesia that will reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+), preventing 43.3 million tons of carbon from being emitted into the atmosphere. CCI works with key stakeholders to design, develop and fund the projects. CCI’s contributions provide replicable models for other REDD+ projects to follow in verifying carbon storage and absorption potential.
October, 2010
CCI and the C40 Climate Leadership Group partner with the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a global leader in climate change reporting, to establish a common reporting scheme to enable C40 cities to measure, track, and compare greenhouse gas emissions and reduction efforts.
June, 2010
President Clinton and Mayor Castañeda Lossio of Lima announce a major project to replace 6,000 incandescent traffic lights with long-lasting and energy efficient light emitting diode (LED) signals. CCI helps the city to cut its annual energy use by 5,200 megawatt hours, saving approximately $1.5 million per year.
April, 2010
CCI helps the Victorian Government in Australia to deliver its ‘Greener Government Buildings’ program that will see hospitals, schools, sporting and other government buildings, become more energy and water efficient. By 2018, sites accounting for 90 per cent of the state Government’s total energy consumption will be addressed, with all cost-effective solutions implemented and savings measured and verified annually.
April, 2010
CCI completes a pre-feasibility study assessing the potential to deploy solar energy on a large-scale in South Africa — which would provide the country with clean, secure, and affordable energy. CCI also completes studies for governments in Australia and India.
May, 2010
CCI helps Chicago’s Public Building Commission to develop a retrofit project to reduce the energy and resource use of the Richard J. Daley Center, a Chicago landmark. Construction commences on a range of measures that will optimize the Daley Center’s energy and resource use. New lighting, water fixtures, a heat induction system, and boiler system controls are installed. The project will reduce the Center’s CO2 emissions by more than 2,500 metric tons each year, and save the Chicago’s Public Building Commission $9 million over a 15-year period.
December, 2009
CCI brings together cities and vehicle manufacturers across the world to form the ‘C40 Electric Vehicle Network’ to collectively address the key areas of municipal action that are critical to the successful introduction of electric vehicles. The announcement was made at the ‘Climate Summit for Mayors’, which was held alongside the UN Climate Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen.
September, 200
CCI forms a partnership with the Green Belt Movement in Kenya to help protect the Enoosupukia Forest Trust Land, part of Kenya’s largest closed-canopy forest ecosystem. Working on the ground with local communities, CCI has helped to establish 54 tree nurseries with an average of 1,120 seedlings each, to train 500 community members on civic and environmental education, and to form 35 Tree Nursery Groups.
August, 2009
The Rea Vaya bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Johannesburg launches. CCI and the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) worked together to advise the city government on the Rea Vaya BRT system — a network of dedicated bus lanes and stations that provide a high capacity, low-emission, rail-quality bus service. The service carries more than 28,000 passengers a day, and by 2013, ridership is expected to exceed 135 million annual passengers along 122 kilometers of routes. The project will reduce carbon emissions from transportation in the city by over 1.3 million tons by 2020.
June 2009
CCI helps the government of Guyana create a low carbon development strategy to protect its 15 million hectares of tropical forest. This project determined the assets or industries Guyana could develop to attract commercial investment, such as sustainable forestry, value-added timber processing, bio-ethanol, and ecotourism.
May, 2009
Construction commences on a major building energy efficiency retrofit program in Houston, Texas. CCI helped the City of Houston to develop the project, encompassing all city buildings — 271 buildings, comprising 11 million square feet. The project is helping Houston to reach its goal of reducing its energy demand from buildings by at least 25 percent. CCI supported the city government throughout the project development process by advising on procurement, contracting, finance, and potential industry partners.
May, 2009
President Clinton joins representatives from cities around the world at the third Summit of the C40 Large Cities Climate Leadership Group in Seoul, South Korea. CCI announces a global program developed in collaboration with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), called the ‘Climate Positive Development Program’. The program supports the development of large-scale urban projects that demonstrate cities can grow in ways that are "climate positive." Climate Positive real estate developments strive to reduce the amount of on-site CO2 emissions to below zero.
May, 2009
In Houston, Texas, CCI works to reduce landfill disposal of organic waste through composting and develops a viable model for the commercial sector. Leading grocers, including Walmart, start to compost 12,000 tons of food waste from 40 Houston stores. Walmart prepares to rollout the program to its stores across Texas.
April, 2009
CCI helps establish a retrofit project to improve the energy efficiency of the iconic Empire State Building. Once complete, the project is expected to reduce the building’s energy use by 38 percent and energy bills by $4.4 million per year, while preventing 105,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the next 15 years. The project has become one of the most recognizable retrofit projects in the world.
April, 2009
CCI helps the University of Central Missouri (UCM) to develop a project to retrofit 29 buildings, totaling 1.7 million square feet on its campus. CCI provided financing advice that helped UCM secure tax-exempt lease financing with Bank of America for the $36 million project.
February, 2009
CCI works with the City of Los Angeles to undertake a major five-year project to replace 140,000 streetlights across the city with energy-efficient LED lights, reducing CO2 emissions by 40,500 tons and save $10 million annually.
December, 2008
CCI forms a partnership with the state government of Arkansas to enhance and support the reduction of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the state by engaging in retrofit programs.
November, 2008
The first buildings in the CCI Building Retrofit Program complete construction in Seoul. In total, the City of Seoul, in partnership with CCI, has retrofitted 21 public buildings. Since then, over 400 buildings have begun or completed construction through the CCI program, reducing CO2 emissions by over 120,000 metric tons per year.
November, 2008
CCI forms a partnership with the City of Chicago and Mercy Housing Lakefront, a nonprofit housing provider to low-income families with units across the United States, to improve the energy efficiency of 314 of Mercy’s housing units in Chicago. The project reduces electricity use by 30 percent and CO2 emissions by nearly 200 tons each year.
September, 2008
CCI starts to work with carbon finance experts and others to support the government of Cambodia in introducing new methodologies for projects that will reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+). CCI assisted the Cambodia’s first REDD+ project, involving 11 community forestry groups and protecting around 59,000 hectares of forestland in the Oddar Meanchey Province. CCI worked with key stakeholders to design, develop and fund the project.
May, 2007
President Clinton joins representatives from cities around the world at the second Summit of the C40 Large Cities Climate Leadership Group in New York. The creation of the CCI Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program, a major undertaking to reduce energy consumption in existing buildings, is announced at the Summit.
August, 2006
CCI forms a partnership with the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) to establish low-carbon transportation projects in cities, later leading to the development of projects including a bus rapid transit (BRT) project in Johannesburg, South Africa and bicycle lane networks in Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo in Latin America.
August, 2006
President Clinton announced the launch of the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI). Its first program was a partnership with the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group to demonstrate through concrete projects that reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the world’s largest cities is good economics. CCI commits to assist C40 cities in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing energy efficiency by using the same business-oriented approach that has made other Clinton Foundation initiatives successful. Today, CCI is helping to develop hundreds of financially-viable projects that reduce emissions and increase energy efficiency, in areas including low-carbon transportation, waste management, outdoor lighting, building retrofits and new urban development. In addition to cities, CCI also focuses on clean energy development and forestry, key areas in the fight against climate change.
