Why Launch the Net-Zero City Project Instead of Putting Out Bids for Work?
Our intention is not to circumvent the standard practice for procuring work to build and develop cities.
The climate technologies needed to achieve net-zero emissions already exist. The biggest hurdle to achieving net-zero has been the complexity of the task. With so many sectors requiring improvement, traditional approaches have typically been slower and costly to achieve.
Taking its lead from successful projects around the world in South Africa, Korea, Dubai, and most recently, Saudi Arabia, the Net-Zero City Project Board has determined that to integrate these technologies successfully requires building a city from the ground up with plans to implement appropriate carbon-reduction technologies in advance of actual development.
A continent built on enterprise, North America should be familiar with city building from this perspective. Corporate towns created America. Building one around the world’s net-zero emissions goals is a fitting next step.
The question now becomes, which technologies are the most appropriate to use, and how can they be integrated to achieve emissions reductions while ensuring reliability, affordability, and generating industry-level competitiveness for each technology? Further, how will these technologies work together across functions, and how much land, power, and resources will be required to develop and run the city?
These questions cannot be answered by one party. To effectively build this city, experts from every sector will need to weigh in. In the process, committee members and applicants will be able to see how their own organizations can plan ahead instead of reacting to policies and circumstances as they arrive. They will be able to integrate decarbonization cost insights when deciding which direction to move in or where to allocate budget. The Project will give established, successful corporations the opportunity to show how they can use services they already provide to create results the world is now looking for.
Based on recommendations from the committees across each of the identified Key Development Areas, the Board will develop the full path to net-zero for this city. With a broad scope of experience across the finance sector, the Board is also interested in working with the technology companies who will be involved to determine how to increase the rate of adoption of select technologies and monetize them.
Creating a plan from scratch eliminates the need to rely on vague building archetypes or general marginal abatement cost curves, which often lead to poorer plans and higher costs.
This Program will yield specific, detailed, actionable plans with faster abatement and better economics.
Mark Reynolds of Mace Group highlights; “…The only way we can overcome [carbon-emission] challenges is by fundamentally overhauling how we design and construct projects. When we talk about carbon reduction at the construction stage, it’s already too late. It should be discussed at the planning and design stages. There is simply no way the industry will achieve what it needs to if it doesn’t pull together.”
This project is an opportunity for industry from around the world to come together to create a blueprint for how to integrate technologies into the design phase of development projects.
Each applicant will receive the results of this project (regardless of committee selection) in report form. We hope to use this project to help corporations bridge the gap between technical readiness and commercial maturity.
The objectives of the Net-Zero City Project:
Discovering and utilizing the newest possible clean technology available in the world today
To build from scratch, infrastructure that integrates technologies to deliver net-zero emissions
Develop multiple avenues for profit and sustainability into the structure and development of the city
Create a comprehensive technology integration blueprint for our partners and collaborators to use in their development projects ongoingly.