What We’ve Accomplished

CCI has helped initiate more than 250 energy efficiency building retrofit projects encompassing over 500 million square feet of real estate in more than 20 cities around the world. These include nearly 300 municipal buildings across Seoul, Johannesburg, Houston, London, and Melbourne; significant commercial buildings in Bangkok, Mumbai, Chicago, New York; more than 20 schools and universities; and the two of the largest public housing stocks in North America.
CCI is also part of the team supporting the retrofit of the Empire State Building which is designed to cost-effectively reduce energy use by 38% and reduce C0₂ emissions by 105,000 metric tons over 15 years.
CCI and its partners are developing standardized models for procurement, contracting, project implementation, financing, and measurement that can be replicated around the world. For example, CCI worked with the Building Owners & Managers Association (BOMA) and the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) to develop toolkits including best practice procurement and contracting documentation and case studies. CCI has also partnered with the U.S. Green Building Council to accelerate the adoption of these models, helping owners more quickly and significantly address energy efficiency and by extension, whole-building sustainability.

Developed a ground-breaking project that will transform the way solid waste is managed with across Delhi, India and prevent 96,000 tons of CO₂ from going into the atmosphere each year. It is the first integrated solid waste management system in India, covering door-to-door collection, transportation, recycling, composting and final management of waste. Implementation of the system is currently in progress.
In Lagos, we are working with the city to develop a 900 ton per day integrated solid waste management complex that will replace open dumps with a material recovery facility, a composting plant, a plastic recycling center, and a sanitary landfill.
In Houston, we have organized composting network among food sector businesses and launched a pilot project that is on track to reach commercial, regional scale.
Other projects under development include an anaerobic digestion project in London, a construction and demolition waste recycling project in Mumbai, an organics management and composting facility in Hanoi and a landfill gas capture project in Mexico City.

CCI has supported the creation, improvement, and expansion of bus rapid transit (BRT) systems in Johannesburg, Mexico City, Bogota, and Sao Paulo and the planning of bicycle networks in Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires through our partnership with the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP).
CCI is also developing projects to accelerate the deployment of advanced technology vehicles. Our Hybrid Bus Test Program aims to create a market for hybrid bus technology in Latin America. Our Electric Vehicle Working Group brings together 12 cities in the C40 network to organize a coordinated procurement of electric vehicles by owners of public and private sector fleets.

CCI is stimulating the market for advanced, energy-efficient street and traffic lighting in cities throughout the world. We are assisting with street lighting retrofit projects in cities including Los Angeles, Melbourne, and Sydney, and with traffic lighting retrofit projects in cities including Bogota, Houston, Cairo, Rotterdam, and Lima.
In Los Angeles, CCI worked in partnership with the local government to launch a major streetlight retrofit, replacing 140,000 traditional streetlights with LED units. The retrofit will reduce CO₂ emissions by 40,500 tons and save $10 million annually, through reduced maintenance costs and 40% energy savings.

CCI has created the Climate Positive Development Program to meet the dual challenge of rapid urban growth and climate change by setting a new global benchmark for leadership in large-scale urban development. Launched in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the program was announced at the C40 Seoul Summit in May 2009 by President Clinton.
Sixteen founding projects on six continents, supported by local governments and property developers, will help drive market transformation by integrating and deploying CCI’s full range of ‘Cities’ programs – including building retrofit, waste management, outdoor lighting, transportation, and other areas. These developments will maximize energy efficiency in their built environment, generate and use clean and renewable energy, operate district heating and cooling systems, install advanced and integrated waste management systems, install water recycling and filtering systems, maximize energy efficiency in outdoor lighting, and provide transportation alternatives that minimize greenhouse gas emissions.

CCI has partnered with Microsoft, Autodesk and others to create Project 2° (www.project2degrees.org), the first global, multi-lingual emissions measurement toolset to help cities measure and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions on a round-the-clock basis, via the web.
The Project 2° software allows cities to establish a baseline on their greenhouse gas emissions, manage inventories, create action plans, track the effectiveness of their emissions reduction programs and share experiences with each other.
Feedback is being collected from the C40 cities on the first release of the software and improvements are being implemented. In the meantime, CCI has provided C40 cities with access to a Project 2° account, a guidance manual and webinar training so that they can begin to input local data and manage their emissions reductions programs going forward.
Project 2° is a collaboration of the Clinton Climate Initiative, Microsoft Corporation, Autodesk, and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability. Additional expertise was provided by Ascentium Corporation and the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT).

CCI is focusing its Clean Energy program on two technologies: carbon capture and storage (CCS), which isolates the carbon emissions of fossil fuel-fired power plants, and concentrating solar thermal power (CSP), which harnesses the sun’s heat to run conventional turbines. CCI aims to demonstrate that these technologies can achieve economies of scale that lower the cost and accelerate the pace of deployment.
CCI is developing its initial CCS projects in Australia, the United States, the Netherlands, and is developing its initial CSP projects in Australia, India, South Africa and the U.S.

CCI is developing a portfolio of avoided deforestation, reforestation, and agroforestry projects in Tanzania, Kenya, Cambodia, Guyana, and Indonesia to ensure that tropical forests are managed sustainably, forest-dependent communities are helped to move out of poverty, and greenhouse gas emissions are actually reduced.
CCI has also completed the development of a comprehensive approach that will enable developing countries in tropical areas to monitor and verify the carbon content and emissions of forests in ways that comply with international regulations, carbon markets, and carbon offset programs.