Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Summer 2016 - 35

ON SPEC HOW CLIMATE CHANGE AFFECTS GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE POLICY WRITTEN BY VANESSA KEITGES W ith the recent discussions on Climate Change regulations and their potential effect on national and local policy it leads to the question at hand - how do we find a good solution? While the national government is driving the recent Paris Agreement Initiatives, it is largely cities and their people who will be impacted by the largest storms, heat waves and extended droughts to come. Ultimately, cities will be looked to when deciding the necessary policies and programs required to protect themselves. Leading cities have already begun integrating green infrastructure into their "Building Resiliency" strategies, a necessary part of the solution to climate change. One outstanding example of this is the increasing utilization of green roofs for stormwater management to help mitigate food risk. Our need to adapt to climate change in cities has helped the Green Building market become the fastest growing market in the U.S. In fact, more than 90 per cent of job growth comes from small businesses and innovation in this sector. The increasing momentum in this market continues to drive cities to implement "green" policies which help stimulate innovation and job growth in the green building sector. This is a seamless example of how policy drives innovation and innovation drives economic development. At the heart of America is entrepreneurism and that being said, the emerging green building market forges a great opportunity for both the private and public sectors to work together in creating innovative companies and expanding job growth across this country and throughout the world. However, it is critical that as cities begin to rollout green infrastructure policies and programs they also execute both performance standards and metrics READ THIS ISSUE ONLINE AT LIVINGARCHITECTUREMONITOR.COM for these systems. Rolling out systems that fail in the end harms our cities, people and the future of our planet. It is vital that we knowledge share on lessons learned and update city building codes in order to continue producing innovative technologies to meet the climate change challenge and support green building initiatives. You will see great programs such as the C40 and the 2030 Districts in addition to cities sharing policies and programs that work! Climate Change is global and national governments are driving the green building industry forward, however, it will be cities and the private sector taking on the task of addressing these problems by finding and implementing solutions. It is our cities and our progressive leader's obligation to develop green infrastructure programs and policies to mitigate the risks caused by climate change! Vanessa Keitges is the CEO of Columbia Green Technologies, a leading U.S.A. green roof manufacturer, Founding Member of "We Build Green Cities" and a Member of President Obama's Export Council where she represents the green building sector and small businesses to help promote innovation and job growth. FIND OUT MORE The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) is a network of the world's megacities taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. C40.org. 2030 Districts are private sector collaboratives working to meet the climate change goals of a 50 per cent reduction in building energy use, water and transportation emissions. 2030disctricts.org LIVING ARCHITECTURE MONITOR / SUMMER 2016 / 35 http://www.C40.org http://www.2030districts.org/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Summer 2016