Displaying items by tag: Cityzenith

A global carbon credits breakthrough at COP26 in Glasgow blew away any gloom from failing to phase out coal use, say many observers.

Discussion at the UN climate conference had been dominated by soaring atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, largely from fossil fuels but exacerbated by global deforestation, notably in tropical rainforests like the Amazon’s – often called the “Lungs of the Earth”.

But while COP26 failed to strike a coal deal, a carbon credit agreement could channel trillions of private sector dollars into protecting rainforests and farms, building renewable energy facilities and other projects to combat Climate Change and promote the circular economy needed to stabilise the Earth’s environment.

Nearly 200 countries at COP26 agreed to partially meet their climate targets by buying carbon credits/offsets created through the emission cuts of others.

This mechanism – originally put forward at the UN’s 2015 Paris Agreement - was previously held up by ‘double counting’: whether a credit could be claimed by both the country selling it and the nation buying it, but this was dropped, enabling the breakthrough.

Hi-tech monitoring and carbon offsets for rainforests could be the big post-COP26 gainHi-tech monitoring and carbon offsets for rainforests could be the big post-COP26 gain

Brazil is now set to be a major beneficiary after decades of trying to balance national demand for farmland against international pressure to preserve the Amazon rainforest, which still dominates the country’s landscape, despite manmade shrinkage by nearly a quarter, from 4,100,000km² to 3,279,649km² over the past 50 years.

Writing in ‘Americas Quarterly’, former Brazilian Finance Minister and World Bank CFO, Joaquin Levy said: “Beyond helping Brazil protect the Amazon, a healthy global carbon market would create great opportunities for commercial and investment partners that could join the country in helping accelerate its journey to become a net zero economy before 2050.”

Former Brazilian ambassador and diplomat, Arnildo Schildt, led a COP26 delegation and agreed that the carbon credits deal gave a major boost to an international consortium he has steered for two years, negotiating with Brazil’s farmers and forestry associations, governments, the UN, international banks, academics, and industry partners as well as investors:

“We have been working to harness a ‘dynamic duo’ - highly advanced nano sensors and Digital Twin technology - to monitor density, height and emissions and protect the rainforest in real time whilst allowing building asset owners to trade carbon credits/offsets internationally and reward our farmers for their support.

“Carbon credit buyers then know that newly planted or established trees are not simply felled after the credits are bought. A secure market builds trust and certainty - massively important to credible buyers.”

Paul Stannard, Chairman of the not-for-profit World Nano Foundation applauded the initiative: “This would create a circular economy for rainforests and the farms around them, raising carbon credits of significant value to industries needing to offset emissions, while generating income for countries needing to alleviate pressure on rainforests.

“Two-thirds of the money will help sustain forests and eco-farms, with the remainder pledged to sustainable efforts in our major cities and urban spaces. Key projects will include renewable energy to help these countries drive down their own carbon emissions.”

Leading Digital Twin company Cityzenith – a World Economic Forum Global Innovator – has already developed its platform technology to incorporate carbon credits/offsets for the built environment and now aims to create a circular economy for the world’s buildings, farms, and forestry.

“This enhances the impact and savings, already estimated at a $280 billion, for the built environment alone,” said Cityzenith Founder and CEO Michael Jansen.

“We’re proud that Cityzenith is playing an ever-increasing role in tackling Climate Change and, with this initiative, advancing the circular economy cause.”

Lindsey Vest, Smart Cities & Smart Spaces Research Analyst for global technology intelligence firm ABI Research explained that a circular economy strategy would switch from mankind’s established but unsustainable ‘take-make-waste’ economy, adding:

“Circularity concepts such as remanufacturing, reuse, and the sharing economy will be critically enabled by smart cities technologies such as IoT (the Internet of Things – devices and systems that exchange data), AI and Digital Twins.”

ABI Research reported that many governments now plan to increase circularity, notably through the EU’s new Circular Economy Action Plan - part of its Green Deal - while China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) specifically targets Circular Economy Development.

This is in addition to work by organizations such as Cityzenith, Vodafone, the globally recognized Ellen MacArthur Foundation - dedicated to circular economy education and connection for companies and governments - and C40 Cities, whose 97 member cities generate 25% of global GDP and champion the circular economy

The World Nano Foundation is a not-for-profit membership organisation with 75,000 subscribers and users in 40 countries working on international commercialisation of nanoscale technologies in 16 industry sectors and collaborates with a wide variety of partners, maximising support and funding bringing advanced technology to the world and commerce. This is supported by many industries and academic groups developing and creating a legacy for enabling technology innovation.

About Cityzenith

Cityzenith is based in Chicago with offices in London and New Delhi. The company’s SmartWorldOS Digital Twin platform was created for anyone designing, constructing, and managing complex, large-scale building projects, properties, and real estate portfolios but has developed to cover infrastructure, energy projects, transport, health, people movements, and whole cities. 

Published in Green Industry

Commercial property without plans to slash carbon emissions will soon plummet in value.

That's the stark warning to their owners from new real estate stock exchange IPSX and sustainability data and consulting firm Carbon Intelligence, in a joint report on net-zero initiatives for UK commercial property market valuations.

Its findings factor in UK government commitments to a 78% reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2035 and increasingly stringent energy-efficiency standards.

High emission real estate set to depreciate in next five yearsHigh emission real estate set to depreciate in next five years

Carbon Intelligence's Real Estate Commercial Director Oliver Light, said: "By not investing CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) now into a long-term net-zero strategy, not only will you (building owners) miss out on the short-term advantages associated with a building that drives high tenant demand, due to minimal energy costs, prestige, and ESG credentials, but you will also have to invest the same or more to deal with obsolescence as a result of non-compliance, voids, and capital deprecation of the building."

Separate research from investment management services provider Fidelity International found that 97% of commercial real estate in Europe cannot currently support a net-zero transition.

"Today's liquidity conditions mean valuations do not yet reflect the stark difference between buildings that are ready to support the low-carbon transition and those that are not," says the Fidelity report.

"That won't last forever, and owners who delay investment in retrofitting could come to regret it."

Digital Twin market leader Cityzenith is helping building owners get to net-zero with its SmartWorldOS software platform. Digital Twins aggregate massive amounts of data, enabling powerful building analytics at unprecedented scale.

Cityzenith CEO Michael Jansen said: "The next decade is pivotal to the future of the built environment in cities. Using SmartWorldOS, our advanced Digital Twin platform, building owners can reduce emissions to zero while increasing real estate asset value. We plan to demonstrate this as part of our 'Clean Cities – Clean Future' (CCCF) campaign while decarbonising urban areas worldwide.

"We will use CCCF to sponsor urban Digital Twin implementations in 10-15 major cities, helping commercial building owners dramatically reduce carbon emissions. New York City's Brooklyn Navy Yard was the first to join the initiative. Phoenix (the fifth largest US city) is expected to follow next, along with many other cities.

"In each city, 5 to 10 major building owners will leverage Cityzenith's ground-breaking technology to determine an optimal smart building and financial strategy to achieve net-zero emissions. The projects will track cuts in energy costs and emissions, productivity gains, and property values."

Cityzenith aims to complete each project within nine months. Other project participants include city government agencies, universities, architects and planners.

Cityzenith is based in Chicago with offices in London and New Delhi. The company’s SmartWorldOS Digital Twin platform was created for anyone designing, constructing, and managing complex, large-scale building projects, properties, and real estate portfolios but has developed to cover infrastructure, energy projects, transport, health, people movements, and whole cities. 

Published in Green Industry
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Construction regulators have been told by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) that the sector must cut carbon emissions and march quickly to net-zero.

Residential and commercial buildings account for roughly 29% of total US greenhouse gas emissions, and increased appliances and electronics usage is expected to result in a further net increase by 2050; energy use in total is expected to grow around 0.3 percent a year from 2016 to 2050.

Residential and commercial buildings account for roughly 29% of total US greenhouse gas emissions,Residential and commercial buildings account for roughly 29% of total US greenhouse gas emissions,

Driving down residential and commercial building emissions brings greater energy efficiency, increased electrification for infrastructure, and reduced harm to the planet. The RMI has presented a framework that governments and states can follow as part of the 'Race to Zero.'

The RMI believes the first step is using holistic approaches to maximize progress in meeting shared objectives. Public utility commissions and other government bodies will need to form a vision, clarify roles, and coordinate policies and programs.

The institute also wants clear guidelines on alternative fuels. While proposals to decarbonize pipeline transported fuel have emerged worldwide, state regulators need to consider a few critical questions around availability, best use, and alternative fuel costs.

And governments will need to ensure there are larger workforces to install new equipment, perform efficiency upgrades, engineering and manufacturing new technical solutions, and expand electricity generation.

Finally, governments and states must manage transition away from employment focused on diminishing fossil fuel use (eg engineering and installing gas distribution infrastructure, installing gas appliances, and delivering oil).

Digital Twin market leader Cityzenith and its software platform SmartWorldOS™ can create virtual replicas of buildings and urban areas to track, manage and optimize carbon emissions and minimize environmental damage.

CEO Michael Jansen believes such tech will be essential for regulatory bodies to ensure carbon emissions are curbed and can work hand in hand with RMI's decarbonization framework:

"Despite only covering 3% of the Earth's surface, cities contribute to 70% of global carbon emissions while consuming 78% of the world's primary energy, of which we waste 67.5%. Smart tech innovations such as SmartWorldOS™ can provide the essential interconnectivity required to reduce these percentages.

"Handling massive data streams harnessed to cutting-edge AI, we have delivered custom climate resilience applications to greenfield cities, real estate developments, and infrastructure projects. We know the issues and can help solve them for those who design, build, and manage cities."

If you would like to hear more from Cityzenith CEO Michael Jansen, you can listen to him directly in an upcoming FREE webinar, ‘Investing in an AI Technology Platform For Sustainable Cities,' taking place virtually on Tuesday 13th and 20th of July at 13:00 CT. To learn more about using emerging tech to combat Climate Change, please sign up here.

About Cityzenith

Cityzenith is based in Chicago with offices in London and New Delhi. The company’s SmartWorldOS™ Digital Twin platform was created for anyone designing, constructing, and managing complex, large-scale building projects, properties, and real estate portfolios but has developed to cover infrastructure, energy projects, transport, health, people movements, and whole cities. Find out more at www.cityzenith.com.

Published in Infrastructure

The United States government is renewing efforts to combat the climate crisis, amid fears of irreversible disaster if sufficient action is not taken.

Following the previous administration’s withdrawal from the 2016 Paris Agreement, Washington aims to show greater climate-awareness, notably by re-joining the agreement.

This has bolstered European Union hopes of improving US relations, after four years of climate hostility between the former Trump administration in Washington and its Brussels counterparts.

US Climate Envoy John Kerry has even implied that the Paris treaty might not go far enough, explaining that global warming would continue even if everybody applied the terms of the agreement, a point to be addressed by a US-hosted meeting of nations in April to raise ambitions ahead of the November UN climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland.

EU Commission Vice-president in charge for European Green Deal Frans Timmermans and US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, Brussels, Belgium on March 9th, 2021.EU Commission Vice-president in charge for European Green Deal Frans Timmermans and US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, Brussels, Belgium on March 9th, 2021.

"This is the moment for countries, common sense, people, to come together and get the job done," said Kerry, adding: "This decade 2020 to 2030 must be the decade of action.”

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen was delighted to find an ally in the United States once again: "It's wonderful to have a good friend back in the EU and it is wonderful to know that we have a friend again in the White House," she said of Kerry.

Both the US and EU are banking on new technologies and innovation to help cut urban emissions, where nearly 75% of global primary energy supply is consumed. Understanding patterns here may help to address challenges to sustainability and energy security.

However, urban energy analyses are severely limited by lack of data. It is virtually non-existent in developing countries yet current projections suggest that new urban growth is bound to occur in these data-starved regions.

A solution to the issue of low levels of data aggregation and analyses in urban areas is Cityzenith’s newly released SmartWorldOS Digital Twin technology, which can aggregate, integrate, analyze, and visualize all urban development and infrastructure and manage climate-friendly low emission actions and projects.

Earlier SmartWorld versions have been involved in the planning for the new Orlando Sports and Entertainment District, home of the Orlando Magic basketball team, the $6.5 billion greenfield smart regional capital city of Amaravati, India, as well as many other urban development projects around the world.

And Cityzenith CEO Michael Jansen backed the US Climate Envoy’s message: “This significant repositioning by the US underlines that we have reached a tipping point in the march towards fossil fuel independence. The world's cities produce 70+% of all the world's carbon emissions and must be ground zero for the climate resilience battle, creating a new market for cutting edge decarbonization technologies that perhaps many of us never thought possible.

“The most essential of all of those technologies is Digital Twins. A recent study predicted that by 2025, 500 major world cities will rely on Digital Twin technology to integrate and optimize a multitude of common city functions. I believe this trend will be driven principally by the need to reconfigure cities everywhere as a platform to support and catalyze the development of local, liveable zero-carbon economies as nations tackle climate change.

“And this is why Cityzenith launched its ‘Clean Cities - Clean Future’ initiative late last year, pledging to donate its SmartWorldPro Digital Twin software to 10 major cities dedicated to addressing Climate Change - we will announce the first project in the next few months.”

About Cityzenith
Cityzenith is based in Chicago with offices in London and New Delhi. The company's SmartWorldPro2™ Digital Twin platform was created for anyone designing, constructing, and managing complex, large-scale building projects, properties, and real estate portfolios. Find out more at www.cityzenith.com

Published in Green Industry
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The world is building more significant projects in larger numbers than at any time in history. Our planet must accommodate the equivalent of 10,000 new cities by 2050 to keep pace with the projected population explosion.  70% of the world’s carbon emissions come from cities, and Digital Twin technology may hold the key to reversing this.

A recent Markets & Markets report estimated the Digital Twin market would grow from $3.1 billion in 2020 to $48.2 billion per year by 2026, at an annual CAGR of 58%. Digital Twin software is already revolutionizing industries such as Construction, Energy, Architecture, Aerospace, and Automotive & Transportation.

Image – Cityzenith’s Digital Twin software SmartWorld Image – Cityzenith’s Digital Twin software SmartWorld

Furthermore, the global Smart Infrastructure market is forecast to grow to $56b over the next four years, an annual growth rate of 19.5%, according to Market Research Explore.  The report for the global Smart Infrastructure market named Cityzenith, Siemens, and Black & Veatch, as the leading companies in the sector.

One of these Digital Twin software companies, Cityzenith who’s AI technology platform specializes in energy resilience and has recently launched an international campaign to help cities become climate-friendly under the banner of its Clean Cities – Clean Future campaign.   Cityzenith will donate its SmartWorldPro2 solution to up to 100 cities over the next three years to help them become carbon neutral.

CEO Michael Jansen noted that cities produce more than 70 per cent* of greenhouse gases and said that the use of data and artificial intelligence (AI) could cut this dramatically.

Digital twins were initially developed to aggregate, analyze and visualize complex information for manufacturing and construction industries. As they have evolved, they are increasingly being used as a tool by cities for urban resilience and lower carbon emissions.

ABI Research** expects more than 500 urban digital twins to be deployed by 2025, up from just a handful in 2019.  Jansen said, “For every million we raise in investment, we will donate our technology to a major city to help it become carbon neutral”.

“Since our inception, we have been using these tools to deliver custom climate resilience applications to greenfield cities, real estate developments, and infrastructure projects.

We know the issues and now have the right data aggregation, analysis, and visualization capabilities to help solve them for cities, and those who design, build, and manage them”.

If you would like to hear more about investing in sustainable cities, there is a unique opportunity to hear from the Architect behind the Clean Cities – Clean Future campaign and how Cityzenith is hoping to transform our cities and the Digital Twin market.

Special Webinar: Investing in a Sustainable Future for our Cities

Cityzenith CEO Michael Jansen Talks Digital Twins for 'Net Zero' Sustainable Cities with Investors

Wednesday, 17 March 2021, 8:00 AM

Wednesday, 17 March 2021, 1:00 PM

Central Time (US and Canada)

To date, over 4,500 investors have joined Cityzenith investing $9 million into this sector leading green technology company as featured in Forbes this month, Cities Today, and on the BBC.

Register for this FREE event here

*UNHabitat https://unhabitat.org/topic/climate-change

**ABI Research https://www.abiresearch.com/

About Cityzenith
Cityzenith is based in Chicago with offices in London and New Delhi. The company's SmartWorldPro2™ Digital Twin platform was created for anyone designing, constructing, and managing complex, large-scale building projects, properties, and real estate portfolios. Find out more at www.cityzenith.com

 

Published in Technology News
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