Urban Sustainability
Introduction
The SlimCity initiative began at the Annual Meeting 2008 and wrapped up two years later. The focus of the project was on the sustainable development of all aspects of a city to achieve reduced carbon emissions and increased resource efficiency across all sectors, involving the following industries: Energy, Mobility, Engineering and Construction, Chemicals, Real Estate and Information Technology.
Download the SlimCity Knowledge Cards which identify key trends and best practices in the areas of Smart Energy, Urban Mobility, and Sustainable Construction.
New Initiatives developed within this project are:
Smart Grids
Smart grids hold the promise to enable energy efficiency, integration of renewable energy, electric vehicles at scale and new energy services to customers. The “digitization” of electricity could therefore become the backbone and a "must" for tomorrow's energy solutions and the low-carbon economy. For more information, please contact Johanna Lanitis at johanna.lanitis@weforum.org.
Repowering Transport
The objective of the Repowering Transport project is to facilitate the adoption of clean and secure energy sources for the transportation sector through structured multistakeholder dialogue. The project integrates executives from the Forum’s Industry Partnership programs in mobility (automotive, aviation, and logistics), energy (oil and gas, utilities, alternatives) and chemicals. The project explores in depth three specific areas at the intersection of mobility and energy: Alternate Fuels, Energy Efficiency, and the Electrification of Transportation. For more information, please contact Mariana Torres-Montoya at Mariana.Torres-Montoya@weforum.org
Retrofit Financing
Buildings represent 40% of the world’s energy requirements. With the world’s building stock turning over at a rate of only 5% per year and new building construction further hampered by frozen capital markets, achieving meaningful reductions in energy use and carbon emissions increasingly depends on retrofit investments. The project aims to scale up building retrofits by exploring sources of financing; considering value capture for a range of stakeholders; and identifying policies and investment vehicles to catalyse action. Conceived by the World Economic Forum’s members and partners in Davos in January 2010, Retrofit Finance & Investment is a collaborative, industry-driven project that provides the multi-stakeholder leadership platform to advance this critical issue. For more information, please contact Robin Ried at robin.ried@weforum.org.
Housing for All
The project gives industry leaders and experts the opportunity to sound off on the challenges and opportunities to address the world's lower-income housing needs. At the direction of the Forum's Real Estate community, the Forum established a Steering Committee and Advisory Board, currently involved in a collaborative effort to heighten awareness about the issue amongst the business community; to track impacts of inadequate housing supply on business and the economy, and to catalogue best practices and government policies that create incentives for private sector engagement. The effort will be crystallized in the development of a set of Knowledge Cards, a report, and a living Knowledge Library which will enable the greater Forum community to access information on an ongoing basis. For more information, please contact Robin Ried at robin.ried@weforum.org.
Accelerating Successful Smart Grid Pilots
The Smart Grid project is driven by the Energy and ICT Industry Partner Communities and supported by theresources Partner, Accenture. In 2009, the Forum began researching the opportunities and challenges surrounding smart grid, publishing a report entitled Accelerating SmartGrid Investments. Building on this report and a series of workshops, including a private session at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2010 in Davos, the Forum launched the second phase of the smart grid project in June 2010.In 2010, the Smart Grid project is bringing together key stakeholders across the smart grid...
Post date:
December 29, 2010
De-stressing Urban Infrastructure
India's Planning Commission estimates that nearly 90 million new low-cost housing units and US$ 190 billion of infrastructure investment will be needed over the next decade.
With an unprecedented migration rate to India's urban centres, what new public-private partnership models for delivery of infrastructure and low-cost housing are available to address this challenge?
This session is off the record.
Post date:
November 15, 2010
East Asia 2009 - Next Steps for Asia in Global Redesign
The global economic crisis provides Asia with the unique opportunity to leverage the strength of its collective economic position, redefine its growth model and reinvigorate the global economy. With high expectations on Asia, this closing session outlines the major outcomes of the meeting as well as the top priorities for the region's leaders.Ahn Ho-Young, G20 Sherpa and Deputy Minister of Trade of the Republic of KoreaAzman Mokhtar, Managing Director, Khazanah Nasional, MalaysiaPeter Sands, Group Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered Bank, United KingdomTarek Sultan Al Essa, Chairman...
Post date:
November 10, 2010
Accelerating Smart Grid Investments
Smart grid technology will bring together the advancements in the IT and Telecommunications sector – embedded sensing, computing and ubiquitous communications – to deliver a safer, more efficient and more resilient energy system. Not dissimilar to the Internet, this smart grid will act as a backbone infrastructure, enabling a suite of new business models, new energy management services and new energy tariff structures.
Post date:
November 5, 2010
SlimCity Facilitation Guide
The SlimCity Knowledge Cards were produced by the Foresight, Incubation and Innovation Group at Arup, a global firm of consultant engineers, in collaboration with the World Economic Forum. Arup and the Forum assembled a project team comprising researchers, graphic designers, copy editors and picture researchers to create an innovative product that would help administrations in cities and the private sector take effective and appropriate measures to address complex environmental and resource challenges for urban centres.
Post date:
November 5, 2010
SlimCity: A Cross-Industry Public-Private Initiative on Urban Sustainability
SlimCity is a World Economic Forum Industry Partnership initiative that provides a risk-free marketplace for cities and the private sector to exchange best practices and deliver resource efficiency within cities worldwide. The focus of this exchange is on the sustainable development of all aspects of a city to achieve reduced carbon emissions and increased resource efficiency across all sectors, and involves the following industries: chemicals, engineering & construction, energy, information technologies, mobility, and real estate.
Post date:
November 5, 2010
Tianjin 2010 - Driving Growth through Sustainability
As the global population expands from 6 billion to 9 billion over the next 40 years, sustainability will become both a societal and business imperative in the 21st century. How will the sustainability imperative transform companies, industries and countries?SpeakersHari S. Bhartia, Co-Chairman and Managing Director, Jubilant Bhartia Group, India; President, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII); Mentor of the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2010Bernardo Gradin, Chief Executive Officer, Braskem, BrazilCaio Koch-Weser, Vice-Chairman, Deutsche Bank Group, Deutsche Bank, United Kingdom;...
Post date:
October 28, 2010
Sustainable Consumption
Each year until 2030, at least 150 million people will be entering the middle class. This will bring almost 60% of the world’s population into a middle income bracket. Over the same period energy demand is projected to increase by 40%, and water demand is expected to outstrip supply by 40%.Providing for the next generation of consumers in a sustainable manner presents both a challenge and an opportunity. Leaders can position themselves to succeed in this changing framework by redefining their strategies. New products, services and value chains can embrace "absolute sustainability".These...
Post date:
October 19, 2010
Climate Change
The World Economic Forum engages business, government and experts in partnerships to create the low-carbon economy. The World Economic Forum provides a neutral platform to develop universal carbon emissions reporting. Creating the Low-Carbon EconomyTo ensure our future prosperity, we need a high-growth and low-carbon economy. To that end, a set of practical policies and incentives is urgently required to help remove the obstacles to more low-carbon finance and technology. This will enable green recovery packages to have maximum impact. But this is not a task for governments alone. As the...
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October 19, 2010
Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2010
At the Annual Meeting of the New Champions, the World Economic Forum brings together emerging global leaders and Mentors willing to share the knowledge and perception that only come with experience. It is this powerful mix of questioning, insight and resilience that makes the Summer Davos unique. This year’s Meeting focused on “Driving Growth through Sustainability”, an opportunity that confronts every business, government, civil society organization and individual. From the start of the three-day event, it was clear that participants understood the key factors needed to achieve this goal,...
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September 13, 2010
The Business of Sustainable Urban Design
In the next 30 years, half of the continent's population will be living in urban areas; without careful planning, the rapid rate of urbanization could lead to overcrowding, severe poverty and widespread slums. Sustainable, low-cost urban design is both a challenge and an opportunity.How can municipal governments, international organizations, business and social entrepreneurs partner to shape the design of better, affordable housing and urban infrastructure?This session is off the record.Key Points• Africa faces enormous challenges from rapidly growing urban populations, most of ...
Post date:
May 6, 2010
World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2010
The theme of the Annual Meeting was Improve the State of the World: Rethink, Redesign, Rebuild. In his opening address, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France said that it would not be possible to emerge from the global economic crisis and protect against future crises if the economic imbalances that are at the root of the problem are not addressed.
Post date:
January 27, 2010
