Urban areas, as hubs of innovation, economic activity, and cultural exchange, are significant contributors to global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, largely due to their energy consumption patterns. Lighting, a fundamental aspect of urban infrastructure, offers a unique leverage point for cities aiming not only to decarbonize, but also to improve the safety, security, and livability of urban areas. Lighting also accounts for a large share of any city’s energy costs and carbon emissions: constituting, on average, between 20% and 40% of a municipality’s electricity consumption.
In the quest to create integrated solutions that support the well-being of communities while curbing carbon emissions, the Urban Transitions Mission is partnering with Signify, a world leader in lighting, to build knowledge and expand access to integrated solutions for public outdoor and indoor lighting.
Through this partnership, UTM and Signify aim to accelerate the adoption of innovative lighting solutions, that can help to fully tap the social benefits, decarbonization and cost saving potential of lighting, as part of more comprehensive transformation plans and renovation pathways.
Starting from next month, UTM and Signify will lead a series of knowledge sharing activities, including webinars dedicated to the UTM city cohort and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy’s community. The program is available here.
These sessions, designed to build knowledge, expand capabilities, and highlight the potential impact of these lighting solutions, will address topics such as safety and security, connected lighting systems, circular lighting principles, and innovations in public building renovations. Thanks to this partnership, the UTM cohort will benefit from workshops and trainings, alongside analysis and evaluation with savings modeling and light-touch audits, as well as the opportunity to further exchange and share their experiences and hands-on learnings.
The UTM will participate to the event Tomorrow’s brighter cities: enabling greater connectivity for long-term sustainability (Wed 6 November, 15:30 – 17:15), organized by Signify, UTM partner, back to back with the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona (5-7 November) Thanks to the assessment of the needs and experiences of the 100 UTM cities engaging in the mission, Miriam Badino will set the scene for a deep dive discussion with the participants of the roundtable on ‘Achieving sustainability in urban systems’. More information and the link to register to the event here.
