This week's COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow, Scotland, will have a significant contingent from Pittsburgh, with a group of leaders from government, nonprofit and business working to continue the region's global green-building and clean-energy reputation and reaching a wider audience.

Leaders and other representatives from the Green Building Alliance, Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, Carnegie Mellon University, PJ Dick, and the Sister Cities Association of Pittsburgh are attending the climate summit where global leaders and experts from 120 countries will discuss the looming threat of climate change and what can be done about it. Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto and Pittsburgh Chief Resilience Officer Grant Ervin are also attending.

Anna J. Siefken, executive director of CMU's Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, said the delegation is a cross section of the city's leaders in high-performance buildings, research, nonprofits and municipal leadership that will be able to shine a light on Pittsburgh's efforts in clean energy and climate technology.

"My hope is we're able to amplify to the rest of the world what we're doing in Pittsburgh," Siefken said.

"Pittsburgh is a significant city, it's an important player in all of this," said Richard V. Piacentini, president and CEO of the Phipps Conservatory, who spoke to the Business Times on Monday from Glasgow. "It's good to see the representation here."

There will be a lot to talk about. Pittsburgh has been a leader in addressing climate change, especially in high-performance buildings, sustainable energy and energy efficiency, and clean buildings. Pittsburgh is a Bloomberg American Cities Climate Challenge member. Peduto signed Pittsburgh up to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, and the Green Building Alliance in 2019 became the second United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) International Center of Excellence on High Performance Buildings.

"It's through that partnership and effort that we were invited to attend COP26," said Jenna Cramer, executive director of the Green Building Alliance.

The high-performance building center of excellence has been a major priority for GBA, providing best practices and transforming the building of cities and economies with health and equity at the forefront. The center of excellence brings together environmental officials, government, developers and business leaders. A UNECE meeting in September said scaling up high-performance buildings and high-performing built environments in every country would have a significant impact on climate change. Cramer said high-performance buildings are going to get a lot of attention at COP26.

"It's the first time buildings and the built environment have been elevated to that priority level and really seeing the impact it has on climate change," she said. It's not only the buildings themselves but innovations in the building sector, new products and innovative financing.

Cramer is set to speak at COP26 about Pittsburgh's experience as a center of excellence, not just addressing the infrastructure and energy efficiency but how the effort inspires and spurs quality of life and environmental and social justice. Pittsburgh and New York will likely soon be joined by other centers of excellence. GBA's Pittsburgh 2030 District is also the world's largest.

"We are hoping while we're there to build new relationships and enhance existing ones, because we've found that trusting relationships have been the core to GBA's success and our region's success," Cramer said. She hopes to see projects in Glasgow and neighboring areas that put into practice high-performance building and other concepts.

Cramer and Siefken said they're looking forward to hearing from colleagues doing the same type of work around the country and the globe, and to share best practices and strike up potential collaborations.

"There will be a lot of opportunities to connect with colleagues and build relationships and meet some of our peers to create action plans with how we move forward after COP," Cramer said.

Siefken, for instance, had been a part of a 2018 climate-change conference in Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark, and looks forward to conferring with them again in person.

"I'm looking forward to meeting leaders in other parts of the world and talking about best practices and bringing those back, solidifying a research agenda around a just and equitable energy transition and making some connection points and developing partnerships with parts of the world that are doing it better than we are," Siefken said. "I think we are in this prime position, with all of the assets we have in the region, to really accelerate and use this region as a catalytic pilot how we can show other cities. We're ahead of some of the other peer cities, but behind others."

Read full article at Pittsburgh Business Times