The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group’s Climate Positive Development Program was launched in May 2009 in partnership with the Clinton Climate Initiative and the U.S. Green Building Council. The program brings together leading district-scale new-build and regeneration projects working to achieve “Climate Positive”—or net carbon negative—outcomes in cities around the world. As part of the C40’s Sustainable Communities Initiative, it aims to create a model for large-scale urban communities and to support projects that serve as urban laboratories for cities seeking to grow in ways that are environmentally sustainable, climate resilient, and economically viable. Climate Positive is an exclusive program, with a competitive application process, and currently comprises 17 global projects that will collectively reduce the emissions impact of more than one million people. The cities in which the Climate Positive projects are located support the implementation process locally and share best practices globally through participation in the ., The projects are in different stages of development, but share key characteristics like high densities, highly efficient buildings, mixed-use zoning and transit accessibility.
With the primary objective to build Climate Positive districts in cities, the Climate Positive Development Program attempts to change the paradigm of district scale development through three main activities:
Recognizing exemplary achievement
Sharing best practices and challenges experienced amongst development partners
Facilitating the broader implementation in cities of scalable projects, policies, and programs with low carbon emissions
Leadership
In April 2013, it was announced that the Mayor of Sao Paulo, Fernando Haddad, and the Mayor of Stockholm, Sten Nordin would share the chairmanship of Climate Positive and together lead the network due to their leadership and commitment to finding replicable city-scale solutions to address climate change.
How it Works
Each Climate Positive Development project has a unique profile determined by its distinct economic, political, and climate challenges; however, every project aims to lower their operational greenhouse gas emissions to below zero. Moreover, development partners across the 18 projects are expected to focus on reducing operational carbon emissions at the district scale from transportation, energy, and waste sectors, and are required to share the solutions they come up with., The Program also provides technical and logistical support to Development Partners by hosting learning programs and webinars, convening private sector firms to produce tools and templates for project use, increasing project visibility through various media channels, and granting access to technical experts and other partners within the Climate Positive and C40 network. In order to become Climate Positive and achieve net carbon negative outcomes, development partners earn Climate Positive Credits by sequestering emissions on-site and abating emissions from surrounding communities. There are many different paths to the Climate Positive outcome of net-negative operational GHG emissions; each project will use a different set of strategies and technologies according to its local opportunities, guided by the Climate Positive Development Framework, which lays out the four stages of Climate Positive. As projects move through the four recognition stages, from Climate Positive Candidate, to Climate Positive Participant, to Progress Site, and ultimately at project completion and Climate Positive certification, development partners submit documentation to the Program to ensure that they remain on track, and receive feedback from program staff and affiliated technical experts.
