Juggling Dynamite

Mayors and officials representing more than 500 cities organized and attended their own summit in Paris.  It was the first time local leaders had ever gathered in such numbers during a UN climate-change conference. They came to express their determination to act, to learn from one another and share best practices.

Cities account for about 70 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions, and while some heads of state have been arguing over which countries should do more, cities recognize that reducing their emissions is in their own best interest. After all, when cities cut their emissions, they help their residents live longer, healthier lives. When they improve the energy efficiency of their buildings, they save their taxpayers money. When they invest in modern low-carbon infrastructure, they raise their residents’ standard of living. Taken together, these actions make cities more attractive to businesses and investors. Even if climate change were not a concern, reducing emissions would be smart policy. See: What Paris talks have accomplished so far.
Here is a direct video link.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees in northern Iraq could start making their way to Europe as the region runs out of cash to care for them, UN staff have warned. And as Bloomberg discovered, the weak oil price has exacerbated the problem. Here is a direct video link.

As old economy proponents ramble on about when they hope oil will rebound and save corporate profits–others are looking at the future not the past. Want to tap mammoth demand: focus on investments to increase efficiency in order to use less of everything. Focus on renewable energy sources pumped into continental smart grids and electric vehicles. Want scale? Want good jobs? The growth opportunities in these areas are massive and global.

Beth Comstock, vice chair at General Electric, explains the company’s clean energy project “Current” that helps partner companies better manage energy consumption and the use of the internet of things to spread energy efficiency. Here is a direct video link.

The maker of electric cars and energy-storage devices had 1,656 job openings posted as of Monday afternoon. Among them: a radar engineer with one to three years of experience with automotive radar systems; a manager to establish a service operation in Mexico City; product specialists in cities from Amsterdam and Milan to Shanghai and Chengdu. Here is a direct video link.