Birmingham Tops Clinton's Bill on Climate Change

March 6 2008

Former US President Bill Clinton and global IT giant CISCO Systems joined forces in San Francisco today to invite Birmingham to become one of the world's leading authorities on developing environmentally friendly 'smart' homes and communities as a means to tackle climate change.

Along with the cities of, Lisbon, Hamburg and Madrid, Birmingham was invited to join founding members San Francisco, Seoul and Amsterdam in an exclusive club of seven cities collaborating through CISCO's 'Connected Urban Development (CUD) program'.

Mike Whitby, Leader of Birmingham City Council, said: ''I welcome the invitation to join forces with San Francisco to become one of the world's leading authorities on tackling climate change. This underpins Birmingham's resurgence as a global city that major cities want to partner with.''

'This is an exciting world exclusive, firmly putting the city of Birmingham at centre stage globally in terms of finding new, innovative and very practical approaches to climate change.  Linking Birmingham to the Clinton Initiative and collaborating with Cisco in this way is an exceptional opportunity to enhance the way in which we tackle growth, place making and development in the most sustainable ways possible'.

Established by global IT giant CISCO, the CUD Program is part of the 'Clinton Initiative' -a movement headed by the former US President which brings world leaders, not-for-profit organizations, charities, and businesses together to discuss key challenges facing the world today and devise solutions.

In its new role as the global lead for developing 'smart living', Birmingham will draw on its own expertise to spread best practice across the globe on issues such as eco-towns, carbon neutral homes, incorporating environmental factors into planning regulations and using new IT technologies to help people live more environmentally friendly
It will also be able to gain access to research and development staff from CISCO who can help Birmingham in its quest to develop ever newer and improved technologies.

Councillor John Lines, Birmingham City Council Cabinet Member for Housing, said 'I am very excited by the potential of this collaboration.  It provides a unique opportunity to ensure that current and future Birmingham residents will live in homes and in places that are amongst the most sustainable, and energy efficient, in the United Kingdom.  I applaud this initiative'.

Building upon the international links and business opportunities membership of the CUD program will generate the council will work closely alongside Birmingham's three universities and other key public agencies to develop a series of training and business opportunities around climate change issues.

Work to promote and research sustainable technologies will also take place with Digital Birmingham, a groundbreaking initiative set up by the Council and BT to encourage local people and business to exploit the benefits of digital in the future.

'We have a unique opportunity to transform the way the world addresses its environmental challenges.  Just as ICT changed banking, travel and manufacturing, it can dramatically impact how we manage our environmental footprint and climate concerns, said Nicola Villa, IBSG's Global Director of Connected Urban Development at Cisco.

'Cisco is proud of the progress made by each of the founding CUD cities over the last year and to welcome four new cities into the partnership. The CUD approach identifies how cities can deploy scaleable, tangible solutions to increase operational efficiencies and optimize resources in a manner that helps reduce carbon emissions and improve energy efficiency.  We look forward to replicating the results achieved by the cities in other urban areas throughout the world.'

While in California representatives from the city council will also meet with leading technology companies and financial institutions who specialise in investing in 'green' initiatives, with the aim of encouraging them to invest in projects taking place in Birmingham.

They will also study what Birmingham can learn from the American automobile industry's efforts to meet Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's targets for introducing 'zero emission' motor vehicles.

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