City Events will add Momentum to Cape Town Green Week

Cape Town is living up to its aim of becoming a green city, with an unprecedented number of sustainability-related events taking place in the city this week, which has been coined Cape Town Green Week.

"As a green pioneer city in Africa, Cape Town is honoured to host this important cluster of events in October. Cape Town is a leading global destination for sustainability-related events and tourism and we are encouraged to see how the business world is taking green issues on board," said Piet Van Zyl, Executive Director of Strategy and Planning at the City of Cape Town.

During Green Week, which runs from 19-23 October, the City of Cape Town will launch an Energy Efficiency Forum for commercial buildings, an Event Greening Forum for the conference and event industry and a campaign to promote fuel efficient driving. It will also have a stand at the Green Building Council of South Africa's annual convention, and is conducting carbon trading training for City staff.

"These initiatives in Green Week are a sample of the many programmes being run by the City to help build a more sustainable city and a low carbon future for the city," says Osman Asmal, the City's Director: Environmental Resource Management.

The various events of Cape Town Green Week also build momentum ahead of the UN Climate Change summit in Copenhagen six weeks later in December 2009, at which a new international agreement for reducing greenhouse gas emissions will be negotiated.

"Energy efficiency is becoming increasingly important in the context of rising electricity tariffs, the medium-term shortage of electricity supply, economic recession, forthcoming legislation, and the need to reduce our environmental impact," said Sarah Rushmore, the City's Electricity Efficiency Campaign Manager.

Details of the events:

• The Energy Efficiency Forum, which aims to provide owners and managers of offices, shopping centres, hotels and other commercial and public buildings in Cape Town with a practical "know-how" on how to implement energy efficiency improvements, will be launched on Wednesday, 21 October. It is a collaboration between the City of Cape Town, Eskom, SA Property Owners Association; and the SA Council of Shopping Centres, and also supported by the Green Building Council of South Africa; Provincial Government of the Western Cape and Cape Peninsula University of Technology. All building managers are welcome to attend, and can email Portia Tsomo for more details.
• The inaugural workshop towards establishing an Event Greening Forum will be held at the CTICC today (19 October). The forum aims to promote greening of the events industry, with an initial focus on conferences, exhibitions and events. The main role players include the SA Association for the Conference Industry (SAACI); Exhibition Association of SA (EXSA); Technical Production Supply Association (TPSA); and services SETA. For more information, contact Karin Diederichs of Supporting Sustainable Events at 021 913 6865.
• The City will have a stand at the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) annual convention and exhibition, which covers the latest on the green revolution in property, city design and responsible real estate development. The City is developing green building guidelines, and actively encourages new buildings to be designed green from the start, as well as energy efficiency and other greening elements in existing buildings.
• The City is embarking on a fuel efficiency campaign to encourage motorists to drive in a more fuel-efficient way, as part of the 2010 Green Goal Programme. The initial focus of the campaign will be on City and Provincial staff, especially those who drive fleet vehicles. Transport consumes more energy than any single other activity or industry sector in Cape Town - it accounts for 55% of our total energy consumption and 28% of all carbon emissions. By simply changing driving habits, motorists can reduce their fuel consumption and save up to 20% of their fuel costs, and also ensure that there are fewer vehicle emissions, which contribute to both local air pollution and climate change. For more information, email Niki Covary.
• The City is conducting training for its officials and politicians to learn more about the international carbon trading market and how the City can take advantage of this financial opportunity for carbon-reduction projects.
• Cape Town Green Week will attract business leaders and green experts, and the City will make the most of their presence during the week.

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Issued by:
Communication Department
City of Cape Town