Projects

Climate Prosperity Project

Global Urban Development, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and environmental defense fund

www.climateprosperity.com

Climate Prosperity generates substantial economic and employment growth and sustainable business and community development by demonstrating that innovation, efficiency, and conservation in the use and reuse of all resources is the best way to increase jobs, incomes, productivity, and competitiveness. In addition, Climate Prosperity is the most cost-effective method of promoting renewable energy and clean technologies, protecting the environment, and preventing harmful impacts from global warming.

“A penny saved is a penny earned.” – Benjamin Franklin

“Less is the new more.” – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” – Albert Einstein

Why Global Urban Development is Working on Climate Prosperity

Global Urban Development (GUD) is a worldwide non-profit organization founded in 2001, consisting of a rapidly growing network of more than 300 dynamic and well-known urban leaders from many different countries representing a wide range of occupations and institutions. We conduct education, research, and action to promote policy ideas that help generate more equitable urban planning and more sustainable urban development throughout the world. To further these goals, we publish annually the state-of-the-art Global Urban Development Magazine on our website, www.globalurban.org, and we engage in projects in partnership with a wide variety of organizations, especially the United Nations (UN).

Global Urban Development was founded on three basic ideas. The first idea was to acknowledge that for the first time in all of human history, the world is now becoming an urban world. According to the UN, more than half of the people in the world are now living in cities and towns as of 2007. Therefore, the majority of the world’s population is now urbanized. This occurrence is all the more remarkable because in 1950 only one-third of the world’s population was urbanized, and yet by the end of this century, two-thirds of the world’s population will be urbanized. Many people are alarmed by this trend, seeing it as a major problem. GUD, on the other hand, believes that everyone should adapt to changing times by working together to solve the urban challenges rather than turning our backs on them or trying to reverse these powerful urbanizing trends. Since urban economic activity is more productive and innovative and produces both more jobs and higher incomes, we advocate using rapidly increasing urbanization as a resource for improving the standard of living and the quality of life both for urban and rural residents alike.

The second idea is that all people and communities have much more in common than the differences between us. Thus we do not divide the world into irreconcilable differences, such as the standard division between “developed” countries and “developing” countries. GUD includes every person and community equally in our policy debates and initiatives. In that sense we are not like the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, for example, because the OECD limits both its organizational membership and its policy focus primarily to relatively developed countries. Rather GUD is like the UN in that we include everyone. This explains why GUD works very closely with the UN on several different initiatives, including the Community Productivity Project in partnership with Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-HABITAT), designed to make significant progress in researching and identifying new and better ways to reach the UN’s Millennium Development Goals related to environmental sustainability, poverty reduction, gender equality, public health, and global development partnerships.

The third idea is that Global Urban Development stands for practical action to accomplish visionary goals through broadly inclusive and equitable solutions. We do not seek to divide people into greater conflict between “winners and losers” or “haves and have-nots.” Our approach is to unite people through education and consensus-building in order to identify and implement “win-win” solutions where all can successfully become winners and where every person, family, and community can achieve long-term peace and prosperity, health and happiness. We are organized into highly participatory and inclusive program committees based on value-oriented themes such as Metropolitan Economic Strategy, Facing the Environmental Challenge, Treating People and Communities as Assets, Improving Public Health, Building Gender Equality in Urban Life, and Celebrating Our Urban Heritage.

Facing the Challenge of Climate Change

During 2007 the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, incorporated the consensus opinion of 2,500 scientists from more than 130 countries in a series of extremely alarming reports warning of dire consequences in terms of terrible droughts, dangerously hot temperatures, violent storms, disastrous flooding, and a dramatic rise in sea levels that will literally put much of the earth’s current land mass under water. Hundreds of millions of people and many other living species of animals and plants will face life-threatening emergencies within the 21^st century unless there is a drastic reduction in the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions into the earth’s atmosphere during the next few decades. These emissions, which are entirely the consequence of human action, can only be reduced by human actions that include resource conservation, use of renewable energy, and a major change in the current methods of production and consumption that continue to accelerate the excessive utilization of the world’s resources and the exponential rise in the burning of fossil fuels.

The IPCC dramatically warns that if worldwide carbon emissions are not substantially reduced by 2020, global warming will set in motion irreversible natural processes such as the melting of the ice shields in Greenland and the over-acidification of the oceans. According to the IPCC report, greenhouse gas emissions can be successfully reduced through the use of currently available technologies to encourage much more widespread energy conservation and promote extensive increases in energy efficiency.

The world is now facing the greatest threat to the future of human life on our planet that we have ever faced since human life first began long ago. Surely we cannot stand idly by and permit such an unspeakable tragedy to occur. The only potential solution is for human beings to drastically change their lifestyles – all of the ways in which each and every one of us produces and consumes the world’s physical resources. Key to such a major shift is that it cannot be accomplished piecemeal. Unless everyone changes in every corner of the world, we do not have any hope of saving the lives of our children and grandchildren. What used to be a somewhat controversial political and arcane policy issue is fast transforming into a moral imperative for all human beings everywhere. At Global Urban Development we are literally praying that our three core ideas are the right approach: embrace urbanization but make it both economically and environmentally sustainable; include everyone and everyplace because we are truly all in the same boat, which in this case is planet earth; and search for “win-win” solutions where everyone can participate in a positive, cooperative spirit and in which everyone will benefit from the outcome. GUD’s goal is to point the way toward making the earth’s environment genuinely supportive of human, animal, and plant life, not only to survive, but to actually thrive in terms of economic prosperity and environmental quality of life, better than ever before, throughout world during the coming decades and for many centuries to come.

Climate Prosperity Strategy

One of the greatest barriers to making the public and private investments and policy changes to mitigate climate change and enhance environmental sustainability is the fear that such actions will be too costly and disruptive to economic growth. Sir Nicholas Stern’s report on The Economics of Climate Change provided one important response--that failure to act will be far more costly and detrimental to the economy over the long term, and that the costs of acting soon are relatively manageable, especially compared to the costs of major adaptation once climate change becomes more severe in future decades.

It is now becoming urgent to directly address public concerns about potential negative effects of climate action on economic growth by clearly demonstrating that protecting against the harmful impacts of global warming will actually be very good for the economy, significantly enhancing prospects for prosperity through increased jobs, incomes, productivity, competitiveness, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. Firstly, expanded production of green technologies will create many new business and job opportunities, thus increasing incomes for many people and institutions. Secondly, energy efficiency, clean technologies, and renewable energy sources will greatly conserve natural resources and lead to substantial cost savings in the long run, particularly since fossil fuel production is peaking globally and prices will continue to rise as supply declines and demand keeps growing. Thirdly, strengthening green infrastructure will reduce vulnerability to harm from the natural environment due to changes in the weather and other related factors. For example, reducing traffic congestion through higher density land-use and better mass transportation saves time and money and lowers risks of oil shocks and climate disruptions.

In addition, greener, cleaner, more conserving design and utilization of existing land and buildings, and more pedestrian-friendly communities greatly strengthens quality of life, which is essential for attracting and retaining a highly skilled workforce. In the new economy of the 21^st century, which is knowledge and information-based, technology and communication-intensive, and globally oriented, people are now the single most important economic asset in the world, more than geographic location, natural resources, or even financial capital. In order to attract and retain a highly skilled workforce, every place must have a good quality of life, including an attractive and sustainable physical and cultural environment. Thus for the first time since the Industrial Revolution began three centuries ago, economic growth is no longer the enemy of environmental protection. Increasingly, a good environment is essential for a good economy.

Global Urban Development has made this same argument for the past seven years, at the 2002 United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development (“Earth Summit”) in Johannesburg, South Africa and in many other venues. The framework that we have been using is called “Metropolitan Economic Strategy” in which sustainability, equity, and quality of life are part of the overall mix. This framework, outlined by GUD in various documents such as our 2001 report to the United Nations on Productive Cities and Metropolitan Economic Strategy, our 2002 reports to the South African Cities Network and the U.S. Agency for International Development, and our 2002 report published by the National Governors Association entitled State Policy Approaches to Promote Metropolitan Economic Strategy, is increasingly becoming part of mainstream economic development and public policy discourse throughout the world, from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to the World Bank.

Given the huge and rapidly escalating challenges of climate change, though, it is now time to place environmental sustainability at the vital center of economic thinking and action. The global focus on promoting prosperity must become instead a total emphasis on generating and maintaining Climate Prosperity and Quality of Life. Nothing short of this approach will enable human, animal, and plant life to continue thriving and flourishing in the 21^st century and beyond. The work that Global Urban Development is doing with the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Environmental Defense Fund in developing the Climate Prosperity Project, starting with the meeting on “The Economic Benefits of Climate Action” held at Pocantico Hills, New York during November 26-28, 2007, is one early example of much more that needs to occur in terms of economic research and policy innovation.

Perhaps a sign of this new perspective is the international movement for brownfields restoration and redevelopment. The impetus for such public policy intervention came primarily from local government officials, who face the problem of environmentally polluted and highly toxic abandoned industrial land and buildings. The cost of cleaning up the environmental damage is very high, and thus much of this property has been allowed to sit idle and unused, a clear economic loss. Through brownfields initiatives and programs, governments, working with the private sector, have been able to restore these elements of the physical environment back to productive use, such that they can be redeveloped not only for manufacturing but as offices, hotels, stores, and housing. The formerly toxic and derelict American Can Company factory in Baltimore’s Canton neighborhood is now called “The Can Company”, a highly successful commercial and residential mixed-use development. And since the infrastructure and transportation services and population is already in place or nearby, cleaning up and redeveloping brownfields is far more conserving of land, energy, and other resources than abandoning such sites and building new facilities on “greenfield” land located at the periphery of metropolitan areas.

Similarly, the increasing interest in the use of historic preservation and renovation to encourage reinvestment in and regeneration of communities is an example of Climate Prosperity. Conserving older buildings actually generates rising economic values, new sustainable development, and the growth of jobs, incomes, and business opportunities. In the field of real estate development, land conservation has long been recognized as the best way to raise the value of both existing and new properties. Preserving and enhancing land for open space, parks, golf courses, lakes, wetlands, and many related recreational and environmental amenities (such as attractive view corridors) actually helps generate significant increases in property values and business profits. In other words, real estate developers earn more money by building on less land.

A good example of Climate Prosperity Strategy is metropolitan Portland, Oregon, which since the 1970s has transformed its economy from forest products to high-technology production, while containing the spread of suburbanization through an urban growth boundary, building a popular light-rail transit system, increasing urban densities and revitalizing neighborhoods, reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels according to the Kyoto Protocols, reducing vehicle miles traveled per capita by more than 10 percent, and most importantly, increasing jobs, raising incomes, expanding capital investment and higher density development, and boosting property values by promoting transit-oriented, bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly, sustainable and livable communities, thus generating both a more attractive quality of life and a more dynamic economic future. The recent CEOs for Cities report on Portland’s Green Dividend documents that metropolitan Portlanders save $1.1 billion annually on reduced transportation expenses, and with an additional savings of $1.5 billion per year on reduced commuting and travel time. Local residents, businesses, and governments reinvest most of this $2.6 billion in annual savings as increased disposable income spent within the metropolitan economy, further multiplying their substantial economic benefits from enhanced environmental sustainability. In addition, by dramatically improving the region’s quality of life and sustainable lifestyle, metropolitan Portland has attracted and retained a highly talented and skilled workforce, which has fostered a great deal of increased business investment and entrepreneurial growth.

Chicago’s Climate Jobs Strategy is taking a comparable approach, with similar efforts in metropolitan Pittsburgh through the Green Building Alliance and the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority, and in the State of California through the “Green Wave” investment initiative in which the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and the State Teachers’ Retirement System have invested nearly one half billion dollars in renewable energy and other clean technology companies to create jobs and business opportunities within the state. Many other communities, towns, cities, counties, metropolitan regions, and states across the country are taking related actions. Recently a statewide public policy organization, Next10, published the California Green Innovation Index to promote greater investment in environmentally sustainable technologies and products.

Climate Prosperity and Quality of Life

To further these aims, Global Urban Development and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund launched the Climate Prosperity Project beginning with a meeting on The Economic Benefits of Climate Action held at Pocantico Hills, NY during November 26-28, 2007. A brief quote from the meeting’s invitation summarizes the principal intent:

“Policymakers worry that climate action may cost too much, hurt the economy, eliminate jobs, and become politically unpopular. Yet many of those who are currently working to reduce emissions inside companies and in governments find they are saving money and fostering economic opportunity and competitiveness. Real world experiences and lessons suggest that we now have win-win options for climate policy that can minimize economic harm and produce significant benefits by generating increased prosperity and improved quality of life.”

Climate Prosperity Project: 2008-2010

The key purpose of this initial phase of the Climate Prosperity Project is to shift public opinion in the U.S., such that “Climate Prosperity” becomes the mainstream perspective on the economic opportunities of engaging in climate protection by producing significant financial benefits for individuals, families, communities, businesses, governments, and indeed each and every element of society. The principal focus is on: GREEN SAVINGS/GREEN JOBS/GREEN PROFITS. The clear and unequivocal message is that rather than climate action being costly and harmful to the economy, climate protection saves everyone money by spending less on energy through increased conservation and efficiency. In addition, saving money on energy not only helps consumers, but it helps businesses save energy costs, which enhances their profit margins and enables them to provide more jobs at higher wages and salaries, thus further boosting people’s incomes and promoting new investment and development. Finally, climate protection will generate significant new employment and entrepreneurial opportunities through increasing energy conversation and efficiency, expanding renewable energy production and distribution, and offering a wide range of new products, production processes, goods and services, and new technologies. In other words, what we are recommending and working toward is “the greening of” all jobs, businesses, and communities throughout the entire national and global economy, building upon but moving far beyond the idea that only some new employment opportunities will be “green.”

The Climate Prosperity Project has made substantial progress since November 2007, and particularly since we officially launched the project during a Side Event held on March 6, 2008 at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC). We have now put together a highly diverse group of participating organizations consisting of pro-business and pro-economic development organizations including the International Economic Development Council, American Chamber of Commerce Executives, Council on Competitiveness, Urban Land Institute, International Downtown Association, American Council on Renewable Energy, Joint Venture-Silicon Valley Network, Alliance for Regional Stewardship, CEOs for Cities, Partners for Livable Communities, and the Apollo Alliance, along with state and local government associations including the National Governors Association, National Association of Counties, National League of Cities, and U.S. Conference of Mayors, together with environmental groups such as the Environmental Defense Fund, Reconnecting America, Smart Growth Leadership Institute, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, Surface Transportation Policy Project, Sierra Club, National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Heinz Center, plus the AFL-CIO and other labor organizations such as the Blue-Green Alliance, community development organizations like Green for All and the Center for Neighborhood Technology, faith-based groups, and numerous others, including potential corporate support from several major companies. During July 7-8, 2008, we held a follow-up strategic planning meeting at the RBF Conference Center, co-sponsored by Global Urban Development, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the Environmental Defense Fund.

Our basic approach is to reach and involve millions of people to learn about and understand the new economic paradigm of the 21st century, in which the old industrial method of overusing and wasting all manner of natural and human resources will soon need to be upgraded to a system that conserves and reuses all resources. We call this new and more dynamic and sustainable system Climate Prosperity and Quality of Life, or “Resource-Saving Capitalism.” In this approach, an area or place gets richer by getting "greener", and people, places, families, communities, businesses, and governments all thrive better and earn more by using less. This is not a new idea, of course, having been well argued by many economic and environmental experts such as William McDonough, Michael Braungart, Paul Hawken, Peter Senge, and Amory and Hunter Lovins, among many others. Cradle to Cradle, Natural Capitalism, Green to Gold, The Necessary Revolution, and many other business-oriented books and articles have made the case for "ecosystem services" and "the circular metabolism." Most of this literature and these conversations have thus far been targeted to senior executive leadership in the business community, applying these ideas to their company's value chains and general resource productivity and efficiency. Even people employed by these firms may not be fully aware of such concepts and practices.

The central initiative is to create hundreds of state and local Climate Prosperity Strategies. A Climate Prosperity Strategy is essentially a place-based economic development strategy in which environmental sustainability is one of the centerpieces of the overall economic strategy. This approach shares a common framework with the Apollo Alliance and Green for All, among many other groups (the recently published book, Apollo’s Fire, co-authored by U.S. Congressman Jay Inslee, summarizes this argument). By actively involving thousands of people in state and local Climate Prosperity Strategies, these efforts will help move the debate on energy, climate, and environment from fear to opportunity, and appeal to absolutely everyone, not just to people who already care about the environment. All people care deeply about their own livelihood and well-being, and the livelihood and well-being of their loved ones, including for future generations.

Climate Prosperity Strategies are intended to include everyone actively in the conversation, so that they can learn that improving the environment is really the only viable way to ensure prosperity and quality of life in the future, as well as the only way to reduce global violence and warfare in competing to control and consume increasingly scarce and costly resources. State and local Climate Prosperity Strategies will help teach people to think inside this new economic/environmental/social paradigm, and to act accordingly, by making money, raising incomes, preserving and generating jobs, promoting green investment and development, through innovation, efficiency, and conservation in the use and reuse of all resources, not just fossil fuels and other energy sources, but all resources: land, water, food, air, people, and every other natural and human resource.

To reemphasize, our goal is GREEN SAVINGS/GREEN JOBS/GREEN PROFITS across all sectors of the economy. Everyone saves by conserving energy and other resources and becoming more energy-conserving and resource-efficient, and this savings strengthens the productivity and competitiveness of all jobs and profits, as well as generating specific new business and employment opportunities.

Through our newly organized national public-private-civic-community partnership, we aim to foster hundreds of state and local partnerships and strategies in the next few years, similar to the successful approach that was used to design and implement the National Homeownership Strategy during the 1990s, which produced the highest homeownership rate in American history, and was one of the most successful affordable housing policy initiatives in the United States during the past half-century. Several of our partner organizations are working with members of Congress to create two new competitive grant programs, one for Climate Prosperity Strategies, and the other for Green Innovation Action (GIA) grants both for the private sector and for state and local governments. In addition, we are working to organize a private sector investment fund that will provide financial capital to green businesses and green development projects in places that have first completed a Climate Prosperity Strategy.

Currently the Climate Prosperity Project is in the process of producing the first-ever Climate Prosperity Guidebook, to be published on October 20, 2008 by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) and many other key economic development, business, government, and environmental organizations. This new publication will explain to local government officials, business and community leaders, and economic developers why they should be taking strategic actions sooner rather than later, and it also will help teach them how to design and implement policies and programs most effectively and creatively.

Climate Prosperity Strategies in 2008 and 2009

During 2008 we plan to initiate seven pilot Climate Prosperity Strategies in the U.S.: 1) San Jose/Silicon Valley; 2) Seattle/King County; 3) Metropolitan Denver; 4) Minneapolis-St. Paul; 5) Metropolitan St. Louis; 6) Metropolitan Cleveland; and 7) the State of Maryland. These path-breaking efforts will make the ideas and actions real for people by demonstrating “on the ground” how Climate Prosperity really works. The Climate Prosperity Strategies will enable businesses, governments, families, and communities to teach each other and learn from each other, to generate actual results, and to help shape public policy and business investment decisions by strongly emphasizing green cost savings from conservation and efficiency, as well as green business and job opportunities in new dynamic and growing economic activities across the entire spectrum of production, consumption, distribution, and services. In 2009, we expect many more places to launch Climate Prosperity Strategies, ranging from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk Counties), New York, to Detroit, Michigan, to Ventura, California.

Green Savings, Green Opportunities, Green Talent

Climate Prosperity Strategies will vary widely in each state and local area, depending on what are the fundamental assets, competitive advantages, and industry networks or clusters. However, each of these strategies will address the same three common elements: 1) Green Savings; 2) Green Opportunities; and 3) Green Talent.

1) Green Savings: Whether it is metropolitan Portland residents saving $2.6 billion annually, or the DuPont Corporation, which reduced costs by $3 billion by cutting energy and materials expenses through environmentally sustainable practices such as waste reduction and recycling, every place can save money for households, businesses, and governments through increasing conservation, efficiency, and innovation, not only by using less resources, but by reusing more of what previously have been considered as waste products for disposal. All initiatives to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are part of Green Savings because they save people money on energy and electricity expenses.

2) Green Opportunities: Strengthening the economy through innovation, efficiency, and conservation in the use and reuse of all resources will generate many new products and production processes, all of which will create many new businesses and jobs across the entire value chain, in manufacturing and services, marketing and distribution, wholesale and retail trade. In the years ahead, suppliers and contractors everywhere will pay careful attention to the many new public and private sector clients worldwide as demand grows rapidly for sustainable products and clean technologies. Actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will also greatly expand producer and consumer market demand for green goods and services.

3) Green Talent: Making the transition from resource-wasting capitalism to resource-saving capitalism will require major public and private investment in education, training, and workforce development to produce a new generation of employment and entrepreneurial skills that will help build the essential foundation for a more competitive and productive economy. These policy initiatives include Green for All’s Pathways out of Poverty to train previously unemployed workers, retraining displaced factory workers as part of sustainable reindustrialization, and technology-oriented advanced graduate research, development, and technology commercialization, along with community college and university undergraduate and graduate education programs. In addition, improving the quality of life in places through environmental and cultural sustainability and related amenities will be the most effective way for state and local economies to retain and attract a highly skilled and well-motivated workforce of talented people. Attracting and retaining an excellent workforce is absolutely vital for firms and communities to encourage private capital investment in dynamically growing businesses and places. Strengthening the overall culture of environmental sustainability in state and local economies is essential for enhancing the quality of life that is the most important prerequisite for retaining and attracting skilled people.

LONG-TERM STRATEGY

The main purpose of Global Urban Development’s Climate Prosperity Project is literally to transform the world by creating a new economic paradigm in three stages leading up to the end of 2020. Clearly we will not be able to make all of the physical, economic, or political changes by these dates. The goal is to create new innovative ideas and practices for business, government, and civic institutions, communities, and the general public to begin thinking and acting differently in order to avert the climate crisis of the 21^st century and rebuild a more sustainable Climate Prosperity and Quality of Life. This new Climate Prosperity will begin phasing out the extraction and burning of fossil fuels that emit carbon dioxide and other harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, at the same time that it actually creates millions of new jobs and raises incomes worldwide by conserving resources rather than constantly overusing and wasting them. In other words, Climate Prosperity will generate a healthier, more peaceful, and more equitable global society with a decent standard of living for every person and community, operating in harmony with the natural environment, rather than continuing to harm civilization through violence and excessive resource depletion.

Phase I by 2010: GREEN SAVINGS/GREEN OPPORTUNITIES/GREEN TALENT. The central purpose of the first three-year phase of the Climate Prosperity Project is to shift public opinion in the US, such that “Climate Prosperity” becomes the main perspective on the necessity and opportunity of engaging in climate protection, meaning that it will produce significant economic benefits for individuals, families, communities, businesses, governments, and indeed each and every element of society. The principal focus is on adopting a three-part agenda: GREEN SAVINGS/GREEN OPPORTUNITIES/GREEN TALENT. The clear and unequivocal message is that rather than climate action being costly and harmful to the economy, climate protection saves everyone money by spending less on energy through increased conservation and efficiency. In addition, saving money on energy not only helps consumers, but it helps businesses save energy costs, which enhances their profit margins and enables them to provide more jobs at higher wages and salaries, thus further boosting people’s incomes and promoting new investment and development. Also, Climate Prosperity will generate significant new employment and entrepreneurial opportunities through increasing energy conversation and efficiency, expanding renewable energy production and distribution, and offering a wide range of new products, production processes, goods and services, and new technologies. Finally, Climate Prosperity will open up many job opportunities across all skill levels, requiring comprehensive education, workforce development, job training and placement to meet these growing needs. By enhancing quality of life and improving the natural and cultural environment, companies and places will be better able to retain and attract an excellent workforce, which is the essential prerequisite for economic prosperity everywhere.

Phase II by 2015: GREEN SUPERSAVINGS/GREEN TECHNOLOGIES/LOW CARBON ECONOMY. This clearly will take longer, but given the current advanced advocacy by practical business and government leaders ranging from General Electric’s Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt to former US President Bill Clinton, this indeed seems a possible goal to reach within the next eight years, especially if we have a clear message and creative mass communications strategies.

Phase III by 2020: CLIMATE PROSPERITY AND QUALITY OF LIFE/RESOURCE-SAVING CAPITALISM. This is the ultimate goal. If we can achieve it in terms of economic, political, and cultural consciousness during the next 13 years, then we can actually make it happen in the real world by 2050, which will avert the dangerous threat of global warming that has been so alarmingly articulated by the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize laureates, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

DOCUMENTS

Please feel free to read, download, and print out the following documents provided in the links below. The first document, Sustainable Urban Development in the US, is a GUD report to the Government of Sweden’s Mistra Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research that summarizes many of the key themes of GUD’s Climate Prosperity Project. We also include most of the major documents from the November meeting on The Economic Benefits of Climate Action and the July strategic planning meeting of the Climate Prosperity Project, as well as several other relevant publications. We will continue to update this section of our website and add more documents in the coming months. During October 2008, the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) will publish the Climate Prosperity Guidebook co-authored by Shari Garmise, Phillip Singerman, and Marc Weiss, which will be a useful resource of information, ideas, best practices, and source material.

Sustainable Urban Development in the US

Sustainable Urban Development in Canada

Can America’s Mayors Be World Players?

Metropolitan Economic Strategy and Climate Prosperity

Economic Benefits of Climate Action Meeting Invitation Letter

Economic Benefits of Climate Action Meeting Agenda

Economic Benefits of Climate Action Meeting Participants

Climate Prosperity Strategy Simulation Exercise

Economic Benefits of Climate Action Meeting Summary

Economic Benefits of Climate Action Presentation on Business Experience

Economic Benefits of Climate Action Presentation on Green Innovation

Economic Benefits of Climate Action Presentation on State Policy