The City of Pittsburgh Wednesday joined 9 other cities in the United States in becoming parity of the City Energy Project a united effort to address their largest source of energy use and climate pollution: buildings.

Pittsburgh joins the City of Philadelphia which joined the initiative earlier.

By the year 2030, the 20 participating cities have the power to achieve significant collective impact by taking action at the local level, with the potential to save more than $1.5 billion annually in energy bills and reduce carbon pollution by more than 9.6 million metric tons, equivalent to taking 2 million cars off the road for a year.

If U.S. buildings were considered a nation, they would rank third in global energy consumption, using more primary energy than all major energy consuming nations except the U.S. and China.

What’s more, buildings are the single largest user of energy and source of carbon pollution in the U.S., with much of the energy consumed wasted by inefficient systems and operations.

“Last year, I announced that the City of Pittsburgh is committed to reducing its energy use, water consumption, and transportation emissions by 50 percent by 2030. Now more than ever, collaboration plays a critical role in helping us achieve these targets,” said Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto, one of the 10 mayors joining the project. “With a myriad of energy efficiency and sustainability efforts underway across our region, including our recently passed building benchmarking ordinance, we are excited to formally partner with the City Energy Project to strengthen our position as a leading city and build out our range of strategies to create local jobs, save money on utility bills, improve our local air quality, and create a more livable, resilient Pittsburgh.”

A joint project of the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Institute for Market Transformation , the City Energy Project is working to create healthier, more prosperous American cities by making buildings more energy efficient, boosting local economies, reducing harmful pollution.

Click Here for the complete announcement.

For more information, visit the City Energy Project website.  For information on Pennsylvania’s climate-related initiatives, visit DEP’s Climate Change webpage.

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11/21/2016