U.S. Conference of Mayors Support Sustainable Investment Initiative

The U.S. Conference of Mayors has signed a joint resolution to "support the Capital Markets Partnership's Sustainable Investment Initiative to generate market investment in high performance green buildings through Sustainable Mortgage Backed Securities that will stimulate the economy and combat climate change." They also, "...encourage additional public-private partnerships to increase market investment in environmental innovation and climate protection."

The resolution was adopted at the 76th Annual Meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors held June 20-24, 2008 in Miami. It was sponsored by: Hon. Gavin Newsom, Mayor, City & County of San Francisco; Hon. Richard Daley, Mayor, City of Chicago; Hon. Chuck Reed, Mayor of San Jose; Hon. Manuel A. Diaz, Mayor of Miami and President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

The Capital Markets Partnership is made up of a consensus-based group of investors, banks, insurance companies, city & state governments, USGBC, Sustainable Furniture Council, and other environmental  and public consumer groups. The SMaRT Sustainable Standard based on Life Cycle Assessment of products with a third party audit, is the underwriting criteria for the Sustainable Investment Initiative.  

Full copy of the Conference of Mayors Resolution below:

WHEREAS, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the 

international community’s respected assembly of scientists, has 

found that human activities are largely responsible for 

increasing concentrations of greenhouse gas pollutants in the 

atmosphere and resulting climate change; and 

WHEREAS, the U.S. Conference of Mayors has taken action to 

combat climate change, including the establishment of the U.S. 

Conference of Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement, signed by 

over 830 mayors representing over 79 million Americans; and 

WHEREAS, the U.S. building sector is responsible for 48 percent 

of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, according to 

the U.S. Energy Information Administration; and 

WHEREAS, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the American 

Institute of Architects have called for immediate energy 

reduction of all new and renovated buildings to one-half the 

national average for that building type, with increased 

reductions of 10 percent every five years so that by the year

2030 all new buildings will be carbon neutral; and  

WHEREAS, federal, state and local governments have adopted green 

building standards for construction of public buildings and many 

jurisdictions are now expanding green building standards to 

commercial and residential buildings in their communities; and  

WHEREAS, public-private partnerships that utilize market 

mechanisms to advance green building activity in the US are 

essential to ensure that environmental building standards can be 

raised while at the same time growing our national economy; and  

WHEREAS, major investment banks, institutional investors and 

governments, led by the City and County of San Francisco and 

JPMorgan Chase, have worked together to advance the Capital 

Markets Partnership’s Sustainable Investment Initiative that 

will generate unprecedented market investment in green buildings 

constructed in the US; and 

WHEREAS, this partnership has completed a peer reviewed report 

called ‘Creating Economic Stimulus While Stopping Climate Credit 

Risk/Irreversibility’ that demonstrates that climate induced 

property damages have caused increases of 100 to 600 percent in 

insurance rates and also reduced availability of coverage, and 

have caused rating agencies to conclude that these developments

have “serious credit implications”; and  

WHEREAS, this report identifies investment products, including 

mortgage-backed securities exclusively for green buildings, that 

can be developed to increase investment in green buildings, 

decrease credit risk in the current investment environment, and 

help to decrease greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. building 

industry; and 

WHEREAS, the Partnership will be launching the Green Building 

Investment Underwriting Standards and Sustainable Mortgage 

Backed Securities initiatives at the New York Stock Exchange, 

which will generate investments projected to assist in the 

building of over two million green buildings and one million 

certified sustainable products by 2015, add one trillion dollars 

per year to the economy, and stop/prevent imminent, irreversible 

and dangerous climate change,  

 

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of 

Mayors supports the efforts of the Capital Markets Partnership’s 

Sustainable Investment Initiative to generate market investment 

in high performance green buildings through Sustainable Mortgage 

Backed Securities that will stimulate the economy and combat 

climate change, and 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors 

encourages additional public-private partnerships to increase 

market investment in environmental innovation and climate 

protection. 

 

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