Wed 27 Sep 2006
Schwarzenegger and Bloomberg Meet to Talk About the Environment
Posted by The Green Queen Bee under Energy, Environment
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They came to talk environment and exchange program ideas.
Mr. Bloomberg used the appearance, part of a two-day trip to California, to announce a plan to make New York City a “national leader” in environmental planning. He announced that the city government had begun a comprehensive inventory of all its carbon emissions — from electricity consumption in buildings to tailpipe exhaust from vehicles — and would release the results in the fall.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (left) and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (right)[Bloomberg and Schwarzenegger] held a news conference at Bloom Energy Corporation, a start-up company here in Silicon Valley that works on fuel cells. (It has no connection to the mayor, though its name drew several corny jokes.) The two politicians embraced their nontraditional backgrounds, describing each other as independent leaders who rise above partisan politics.
Along with an analysis of the city government’s energy use, Mr. Bloomberg also promised an “unprecedented effort” over the next six months to measure carbon emissions throughout the city.
Mr. Bloomberg also announced the creation of an Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability. Rohit T. Aggarwala, a former McKinsey & Company consultant with a Ph.D. in history, will lead the office, which will be part of the mayor’s Office of Operations.
A 17-member Sustainability Advisory Board, comprising scholars, environmental advocates, business leaders and two City Council members, will advise the new office. The mayor also said that Douglas I. Foy, a former secretary of commonwealth development for Massachusetts, and the Earth Institute at Columbia University, led by the economist Jeffrey D. Sachs, had both agreed to advise the city on its environmental agenda.
Richard Branson, Famed British billionaire and Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson announced Thursday he would earmark an estimated $3 billion over the next 10 years toward fighting global warming.






