Mayor Bloomberg Elected C40 Chair, Announced at NYU-Poly Clean-tech Incubator
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Toronto Mayor David Miller chose Polytechnic Institute of NYU’s clean-tech incubator to announce that Mayor Bloomberg will chair the C40 Climate Leadership Group, an association of large cities across the world committed to reducing carbon emissions and slowing climate change.
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They made the announcement yesterday at Polytechnic Institute of NYU’s Accelerator for a Clean and Renewable Economy (NYC ACRE), where clean-tech startups are growing New York City’s green economy and helping to reduce the city’s carbon footprint.
Mayor Bloomberg will succeed Toronto Mayor David Miller, who joined Mayor Bloomberg and NYU-Poly President Jerry M. Hultin at the conference, as chair in November. C40 unanimously elected the Mayor.
“No one has a monopoly on good ideas, and the C40 cities, by working with one another on innovative carbon reduction strategies, have an opportunity to show the world what is possible,” said Mayor Bloomberg. He noted that for the first time in history, more than half of the world’s population lives in cities, and that cities “need to be bold” to reduce their impact on the environment. Cities consume 75 percent of the world’s energy and produce 80 percent of its greenhouse gasses.
“Climate change can be fought and won in cities,” said Mayor Miller.
NYC ACRE is among New York City’s and New York State’s initiatives to fight climate change. “The soldiers in this battle are scientists, engineers, students, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists — just like those at NYC ACRE,” said President Hultin, who welcomed the two mayors to NYC ACRE. “They’re using innovation and entrepreneurship to create new products, new companies, and new jobs.”
NYC ACRE has helped its nine tenant companies create 50 new jobs and raise $8 million in venture capital since it launched in 2009. NYC ACRE is funded by a four-year, $1.5 million grant from the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) to NYU-Poly. It is housed in NYU-Poly’s Varick Street business incubator, which it created in partnership with the city and Trinity Real Estate in 2009.
“By joining with Mayor Bloomberg, NYSERDA, and Trinity Real Estate, we have opened a new path for young scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs, a path that energetically supports invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship — what we at NYU-Poly call i-squared-e,” said President Hultin. “The result: real world solutions that are already creating a greener New York City and new jobs and new companies so desperately needed across the country.”
President Hultin highlighted three such NYC ACRE companies whose products were displayed: “Wind Products, whose wind turbines are specifically designed for buildings and whose algorithms tell you exactly where to put them; Sollega, whose innovative roof mountings make solar-panel installation on flat roofs affordable and safe; and ThinkEco, whose clever monitoring devices lead us to consume power more wisely.”
Leaders of NYSERDA, the New York City Economic Development Corporation and Trinity Real Estate joined NYC ACRE principals and owners for the press conference.
