Jane McRaeChief Executive Officer , Sustainable Cities international jcmcrae@icsc.ca

Sustainable Cities International is a registered not-for –profit organization based in Vancouver, Canada.

Sustainable Cities Profile

Founded in 1993, its mission is to catalyze action on urban sustainability in cities around the world.

Industry

Utilities

Construction Companies

Municipality

…

Municipality as an energy actor

Stakeholders

Partnerships

Municipality-wide Policy Action

Citizens

Transport Companies

•SOURCE: THINK TANK

Municipalities Energy actors

SCI Energy Lab

Energy is the defining issue of the 21st century.

Cities are the powerhouses of our economies

Coordination and integration across different sectors and scales are the greatest challenges and

the greatest opportunity

An Innovations Lab

A multidisciplinary forum for collaborative problem solving and idea generation

SCI Energy Lab2013-2016 Cohort

10 international cities from Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa/ Middle East

Cohort CitiesDemographicsBetween 200,000 & 3.5 Millions

Vancouver (600,000)• Single industry = tourism

• Resource depletion

• High interest in renewables for security + diversification

Aswan (761,000)Los Cabos (226, 000)

Los Cabos

Focus Areas

The common thread is not the idea itself (for ideas are often the easiest part of innovation)

but “how” it was made to happen

Energy Conservation

Energy Strategy to reduce city wide energy usage by 10%

Collaboration with industrial partners

Implementation of solar energy solutions in residential areas

Durban, South Africa (3.3 M)

Sustainable Construction

  Brussels, Belgium (1.13 M)Subsidies for high energy efficiency investments (since 2004)

Competition for exemplary building program (since 2007)

Passive concept for new constructions : houses, offices, schools. (for 2015)

Aswan (761,000)• Large scale renewables – solar

• Nationally driven

• Interest = locally driven

Aswan, Egypt

Involve facilitators, energy experts and innovation design strategists skilled at moving quickly between big-picture conceptual thinking and the detail-orientated action steps required to make ideas happen

SCI Energy LabApproach

Draw upon current applied research

Use a variety of tools and methods to help the cohort frame divisive issues, tackle ambiguities, mix different perspectives, and develop individual plans to effectively shape, organize and realize goals

Structured Decision Making

An approach to making difficult or complex decisions involving stakeholders with a diversity of interests

Vancouver (600,000)

Evaluate Trade-Offs

Would you Endorse, Accept or Oppose each option?

Baseline AssessmentInnovation Teams

6 mo - 3 year Goals

Resources Identification 

Collaborative Initiatives

Anticipated Outcomes

Transition to low carbon cities

From isolated to integrated approaches

Learn from mistakes and keep going

We have a long way to go

Cities are doing a lot.

Sponsored by:

Brussels Aswan

Nis

Porto

Los Cabos Vancouver

Zagreb

DurbanSao Jose dos Pinhais

The Good news

“between 2004 and 2007, global investments in renewable energy more than doubled…. If large hydropower is included, 2008 was the first year in which renewable power generation attracted

more investment than traditional fossil fuel generation.”

— Pew Center on Global Climate Change, Clean Energy Markets: Jobs and Opportunities

•Photo: Paul Gipe

City of culture, knowledge and service

University and industry partnerships

Green public infrastructure (bike lift)

Part of Nordic City network – dedicated to developing Nordic cities as attractive, innovative and competitive knowledge Cities

TitleTrondheim (180,000)