Photo: Siemens
Finalists announced for 2014 City Climate Leadership Awards
26 June 2014
by Richard Forster
Siemens and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) have announced the 31 projects representing 26 cities that have been selected as finalists for the 2014 City Climate Leadership Awards. Of these projects, which demonstrate leadership in taking climate action, winners in each of ten categories will be announced at the second annual Awards Ceremony on 22 September 2014 in New York.
“This year, cities were able to self-apply for the first time,” said Stefan Wagner, a spokesperson for Siemens‘ Infrastructure & Cities Sector. “We have been pleased to receive a number of applications from all over the world. The 2013 Awards programme was about rewarding well known cities and projects in the sustainable cities arena. We wanted to emphasise best-practice-sharing. In 2013 Siemens and C40 researched and nominated projects. This year, in addition to cities applying themselves, third party organisations were also welcomed to nominate projects and programmes.”
This year marks the second collaboration between C40 and Siemens on this awards competition, which recognises outstanding performance by cities that have successfully implemented projects to tackle climate change.
This year’s finalists are from the following 26 cities:
Africa:
Johannesburg
Asia and Oceania:
Changwon, Dhaka, Jakarta, Melbourne, Seoul, Shenzhen, Taipei, Yokohama
Europe:
Amsterdam, Barcelona, London, Malmö, Milan, Oslo, Stockholm, Vienna
North America:
Los Angeles, New York City, New Orleans, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Washington DC
Latin America:
Buenos Aires, Mexico City
The 31 finalist projects will compete in the following ten categories:
- Urban Transportation
- Solid Waste Management
- Finance & Economic Development
- Carbon Measurement & Planning
- Sustainable Communities
- Green Energy
- Adaptation & Resilience
- Energy Efficient Built Environment
- Air Quality
- Intelligent City Infrastructure
An independent, seven-member judging panel consisting of former city mayors, architects, representatives of the World Bank, as well as C40 and Siemens will select the ten winners.
“Short-listing was a very lengthy process due to the large number of extremely qualified applications,” said Wagner. “We had many cities that were submitting applications for multiple projects. Some entered more than five. The largest number of applications was submitted in the Adaptation and Resilience category, which clearly shows the growing “trend” or need for initiatives to protect cities from exposure to environmental impacts.”
The Ceremony will feature the participation of C40 Chair, Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes, C40 Board President Michael R. Bloomberg and Roland Busch, CEO of Siemens’ Infrastructure & Cities Sector and member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG, and will bring together more than 250 decision-makers from cities around the world including mayors, city planners, policy-makers and influential thinkers.
The C40 & Siemens City Climate Leadership Awards
The C40 & Siemens City Climate Leadership Awards is granted annually in ten categories and provides global recognition for cities that are demonstrating climate action leadership. The categories of urban transportation, finance & economic development, carbon measurement & planning, solid waste management and sustainable communities are open to C40 cities only. The additional five categories are open both to C40 cities and the 120 cities in the Siemens and Economist Intelligence Unit research project “Green City Index”.
