Finalists announced for first global City Climate Leadership Awards

Siemens and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group have announced the 29 cities shortlisted for the inaugural City Climate Leadership Awards. C40 is a network of cities from around the world committed to implementing meaningful and sustainable climate-related actions and the new awards aim to recognise C40 City members that can demonstrate climate action leadership. The winners will be announced at an event at the environmental London landmark building the Crystal [pictured], home to Siemens’ sustainable cities initiative, on September 4, 2013. This will be followed by a conference on September 5, gathering mayors, city planners, and urban sustainability experts to address some of the most pressing climate change and sustainability challenges of the day.

Five award categories, including urban transportation, waste management and sustainable communities, are open to C40 cities only. Five other categories, including resilience, air quality and intelligent city infrastructure, are open both to C40 cities and the 120 cities in the Siemens and Economist Intelligence Unit research project “Green City Index” (GCI). An independent, seven-member judging panel consisting of former city Mayors, architects and representatives of the World Bank, C40 and Siemens will select the award winners.

The finalists identified are:

• Africa: Johannesburg, Lagos
• Asia & Oceania: Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Melbourne, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo
  Europe: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Copenhagen, London, Munich, Oslo, Paris, Rotterdam, Stockholm
• North America: Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco
• South America: Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo

Awards categories:

• Urban Transportation
• Waste Management
• Finance & Economic Development
• Carbon Measurement & Planning
• Sustainable Communities
• Green Energy
• Adaptation & Resilience
• Energy Efficient Built Environment
• Air Quality
• Intelligent City Infrastructure

In addition to the awards ceremony and conference, the C40, which is currently chaired by New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg will also be hosting a workshop with partners of the C40 Measurement & Planning Initiative on September 6, bringing together European C40 Cities and technical experts for a workshop session about community-scale inventories and the Global Protocol for Community-scale Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GPC). This workshop is the first of many regional workshops to support local capacity building for measuring GHG emissions at the community scale using the GPC.

For more information on the Awards and the projects of the nominated cities, go to: www.cityclimateleadershipawards.com