Globally, 2015 was “one of the most important years in decades” for sustainability, as Fred Krupp of the Environmental Defense Fund recently wrote for EcoWatch.
That same realization holds true for the city of Washington, D.C., which earned recognition as a national and global sustainability leader in 2015 at the following events:
- During the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, known as COP21, District government leadership won the global award for Green Energy at the 2015 C40 Cities Awards.
- At the 2015 Building Energy Summit, the Environmental Protection Agency recognized D.C. as the city with the most Energy Star-certified buildings in the country, knocking Los Angeles out of the No. 1 spot for the first time since the program’s inception in 2009.
The sustainability recognition garnered by D.C. in 2015 was in addition to several important and effective programs and processes that were initiated and nurtured in 2015:
- D.C. launched its first cap and trade system for storm water capture, designed to reward investments that keep dirty water from polluting our natural waterways. In addition, the DowntownDC Business Improvement District (BID) worked with partners to evaluate the triple bottom line return on green infrastructure investments.
- The ongoing Pepco/Exelon merger process provided an opportunity to elevate issues of energy reliability. District agencies responded with the launch of a grid modernization process, a solicitation for the Comprehensive Energy Plan contract and initiated studies of distributed generation potential and of incentives and programs necessary to stimulate deep retrofits of existing buildings.
- The District Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE) funded the launch of the Smarter DC Challenge, a program that assists building occupants’ sustainability efforts. The program created a portal and recognition platform for participants and cultivated a group of sustainability leaders from all sectors.
Stay tuned for more sustainability news next month, when we will place the D.C. sustainability actions in context by comparing some national Best of 2015 lists and their predictions about sustainability trends for 2016.
-Scott Pomeroy, sustainability manager for the DowntownDC BID