The Ecocity World Summit was held in Nantes, France at the end of September, 2013.  Organized by the NGO Ecocity Builders, the week-long event was designed to facilitate exchanges among local, regional and governmental decision-makers, researchers and the civil society, and bring together all the different disciplines on sustainable cities.

IEE Executive Director Ed Church was asked to make a presentation at the conference, based on some of the findings of the research we did for Arup, called the Cities and People Project.  Although unable to attend, Ed made the presentation via video.

Climate change, extreme weather and depleting natural resources are forcing communities to rethink and rebuild critical infrastructure like water services, energy systems, and public transportation. Infrastructure investment has the potential to both provide sound returns for investors as well as create jobs and ensure a more sustainable world for future generations. How are innovative investors and companies making these investments within the current economic and political climate? What are the barriers to increased green infrastructure investment? In May, IEE Executive Director Ed Church joined featured panelists at the 2013 Ceres Conference to address these important questions and discuss how current success stories can be replicated and scaled.