Creativity - IDA Ireland

INTERVIEW »
mist Intelligence Unit in 2008 into the environmental
impacts of 30 of Europe’s
major cities, Dublin came in just 21st – although
it did rank fourth when it came to
the air quality category, thanks in no
small part to Mary Harney’s smokeless
fuel legislation in the 1980s.
If Dublin, and other cities like us, are to
become more sustainable, environmental
governance will be key. This has worked
for Copenhagen, which came out top in
the same European Green City Index, although
Wienholt cautions that every city
is unique and will need its own combination
of measures.
“If you take Copenhagen, all activities
in the city are based on their overall climate
plan for the city, which is driven by
the Lord Mayor. They really address all
the topics of quality of life, increased business
activity, reduction of CO2.”
The municipality created an integrated
environmental management framework
across all departments, appointing environmental
co-ordinators for each administrative
unit who meet regularly to
exchange experiences.
“Before choosing the technologies,
they set a framework first to ensure that
they go for the appropriate ones,” explains
Wienholt. “And the city is working
on how to increase the co-operation with
the private companies, which is also key.”
He argues that public-private partnerships
offer a means for city managers and
companies to share their expertise, and
enable co-operation between authorities
for the city to act as a single unit.
“This can’t be about ‘give me your
technology’, and then it’s done,” he says.
“There has to be a real understanding
about how the different technological solutions
interact with each other to come
to a good outcome on the sustainability
road map.”
Issue 2 Spring/Summer 2011 INNOVATION IRELAND REVIEW 63