“While diplomats try to hammer out a new agreement on climate, the world is not stopping its economic development. China is projected to build the equivalent of 10 New York Cities over the next decade,” said Jane Henley, CEO of the World Green Building Council, a leading organizer of the GLOBE Alliance.  “We must immediately begin putting the policies and financial measures in place to decouple economic growth from its impacts on the climate and the environment, in both developing and developed nations.”

“We’re asking parties to make sure that building efficiency measures, sustainable urban development and transport strategies in the programs are fundamental platform being negotiated under the Framework Convention – and we’re calling on governments to commence rigorous sustainability and investment plans for these sectors when they return home from Cancun,” Henley continued.

The built environment is the sector with the single greatest opportunity for reducing CO2 emissions worldwide, at the lowest cost.  But without action, global emissions from buildings– which account for more than a third of total greenhouse gas pollution– are projected to double by 2030. Current Kyoto-era programs such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) have failed to take on infrastructure and buildings, leaving little financial flow to developing countries to address the giant polluters and learn to build more efficiently.

Earlier this month the GLOBE Alliance called on the international community to invest in the built environment as a leading strategy for reducing emissions by ensuring sustainable building, transport and infrastructure activities are recognized as nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs) and to reform the CDM to accelerate investment, among other principles. Click here to read the full COP-16 Call to Action.

By Megan Webb

Yellow is the new path to green. At least that’s what TripVerde, a software company based in Austin, has observed as it prepares to role out its new software product, AirportShareACab (ASAC), in San Antonio next month.

ASAC is a software program that matches two or more riders in taxis, which reduces the cost of the fares, carbon emissions, and helps reduce traffic congestion and eliminate roadblocks.  People coming to a city from the airport or leaving a city going to the airport can sign up online or via their mobile devices to be matched with other riders.

As a company, TripVerde has set a goal to reduce carbon emissions by 10 percent within 10 years.  It has succeeded in matching people for numerous events, the largest being a national carpool to the Obama presidential inauguration. In this case, TripVerde matched people from more than 60 cities, enabling them to carpool safely to Washington D.C. and back.

With ASAC, TripVerde realized it could overcome several roadblocks including reluctance to ride with strangers and customer safety concerns. Certainly, affinity groups, universities, and businesses provide a natural way for people to connect and form carpools, yet TripVerde realized matching people with taxis would have a faster adoption rate.

Taxis are ubiquitous, registered and licensed and there’s always a return ride available. People across the globe use taxis every day. TripVerde recognized that with taxis, yellow could be the new path to green and would provide a faster route to reaching the company’s goal of reducing carbon emissions. The more ASAC is utilized the more it will help cities reach their clean air goals.

Cities nationwide are striving to find a way to reduce carbon emissions and attain better air quality standards by reducing traffic congestion. Often those efforts are expensive, time consuming and can raise taxes. ASAC provides individuals with cost savings and cities with a simple way to achieve clean air goals.

City officials in San Antonio were enthusiastic to work with ASAC during its launch at the upcoming November National League of Cities Annual Convention in San Antonio. More than 7,000 mayors, city council members and other city officials from across the country will gather and have the opportunity to use ASAC during this four-day convention.

For more information about AirportShareACab visit @AirportShare on twitter or www.tripverde.com. For those attending the National League of Cities Annual Convention in San Antonio, you can visit booth #631 to learn more about what ASAC is doing to strengthen our cities’ clean air efforts.