On January 16th, 2015, Environmental and Energy Management Institute (EEMI) faculty and students participated in a climate change seminar in the Jack Morton Auditorium and the Media and Arts Building. The seminar was conducted jointly by GW’s Sustainability Collaborative in conjunction with officials from the municipality of Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Rotterdam is responding to the challenges of climate change by introducing innovative urban solutions to cope with flooding, sea-level rise and other threats, while reducing green-house gas emissions from the largest port operation in Europe and the growing coastal city. The Municipality of Rotterdam is leading this process of change, with the support of Dutch national climate programs and within the framework of European climate policies.
Metropolitan Washington, comprising the District of Columbia and nearby jurisdictions in Maryland and Virginia, is facing heightened vulnerability to similar climatic phenomena, and challenges meeting its greenhouse gas emission reduction goals as the region grows.
The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments is developing integrated strategies to address such issues in coordination with the responsible State and Local Governments, which are already implementing related programs.
The event was moderated by Prof. Anthony Gad Bigio, EEMI Focus Area Lead for Planning and Managing Green Cities and Professor of Urban Climate Change at the College of Professional Studies. Opening remarks at the event were provided by Kathleen Merrigan, Executive Director of GW’s Sustainability Collaborative.
Speakers were Pex Langenberg, Deputy Mayor, Rotterdam Municipality; Paula Verhoeven, Director of Sustainability and Climate Change, Rotterdam Municipality – Rotterdam Climate Initiative and Stephen Walz, Director of Environmental Programs, Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.