by Shane Henson — June 13, 2012—A report stressing the critical role that cities play in driving the transition to a green economy has been released the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the United Nations Environment Programme’s Regional Office for North America (UNEP RONA), and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).
The report, Advancing the Transformation to a Green Economy through Green Buildings and Resource Efficient Cities: Key Messages from North America, is a synthesis of stakeholder perspectives from five major North American cities visited on USGBC’s The Road to Rio+20 engagement event series. Road to Rio+20 aims to motivate, inspire, engage and support young people to take action on issues of sustainable development and influence the outcomes of Rio+20, the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development.
According to the USGBC, the report highlights five key messages heard from the events, and outlines clear action items for Rio+20, including improving awareness, education and training on sustainability issues and empowering local action and innovation in development policies. Other key takeaways were a need for increasing financial resources and removing barriers to long-term investments, encouraging common metrics, methodologies and tools, and promoting stakeholder collaboration and public-private initiatives.
