For the second year in a row Greater Cincinnati has been ranked as the most sustainable metro area in the nation by Site Selection Magazine.
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Using a diverse, data-rich index, the magazine looks at corporate sustainability practices, characteristics of the commercial building stock and community efforts that positively affect both the planet and residents’ well-being. The 2018 ranking by Site Selection’s Sustainable Sites index draws attention to the value that corporations place on investing in communities that prioritize the well-being of people and planet. Green Umbrella, the region’s sustainability alliance, is working to make sure Cincinnati keeps this top rating for many years to come by leading the development of the Cincinnati 2030 District.
2030 Districts – a national model for urban sustainability – are made up of property owners who make a collective commitment to reduce their building’s energy use, water consumption, and transportation emissions by 50 percent by the year 2030. The Cincinnati 2030 District, which includes Bellevue, Covington and Newport in Northern Kentucky, will be a high-performance building district that aims to dramatically reduce environmental impacts of building construction and operations through education and collaboration across every sector of the built environment. The City of Cincinnati’s Green Cincinnati Plan ranks the creation of a 2030 District as one of the largest opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the city’s built environment.
“The Cincinnati metro region is taking its national leadership role very seriously by creating a fourth category of 2030 goals centered on health and wellness in the built environment. Once created, we encourage all the remaining twenty 2030 Districts to include their own region-specific health related goal,” said Chad Edwards, founding member of the 2030 Working Group and architect at emersion DESIGN. “These shared goals (energy, water, transportation and health) will help attract and retain top talent, advance us toward achieving shared goals and help each member save money in the process. It is a triple bottom line (people, planet, profit) win.”
There are 20 active 2030 Districts in the US, with Cincinnati seeking to become the 21st. The next step in forming the Cincinnati 2030 District is getting commitments from founding members who are ready to use their property to advance bold sustainability goals. “The Cincinnati 2030 District is an opportunity for the region’s corporations to translate their impressive social responsibility initiatives into the way they design and use their buildings,” said Ryan Mooney-Bullock, executive director of Green Umbrella. “By working collectively, we continue to build the case that Cincinnati is a place where talented professionals want to work and innovative companies want to locate.”
Interested real estate owners, managers, developers, industry professionals, and community stakeholders in the downtown core (see map) should visit cincy2030.org or email cincy2030@greenumbrella.org to learn more about the benefits of 2030 membership and how to get involved.
The 7th Annual Pedco High Performance Buildings Seminar on October 4 will feature a panel made up of 2030 leaders from Detroit, Cleveland and Pittsburgh and a presentation about the Cincinnati 2030 District. Filmmakers from Newsy are documenting the process of getting the Cincinnati 2030 District off the ground; you can view the trailer online.
Green Umbrella
