future green construction projects in need of funding, say experts

While the move towards green and sustainable construction in urban areas across the world remains vibrant, the trend, in order to expand, needs another kind of green: money.

That is the observation of former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, speaking during a session of the 2018 Chicago Forum on Global Cities.

Paulson, a former banker who served as Secretary of the Treasury from 2006 to 2009, called for stepped-up “financing and investment that goes toward sustainable development or low-carbon, clean-tech investments.”

“What we need to see are financing models that attract the private capital to come and make these investments and do it in a way that they are commercially viable,” said Paulson.

Paulson is also the chairman of the Paulson Institute at the University of Chicago, which in recent years has devoted itself to finding funding solutions for green and sustainable development projects in both the U.S. and China.

Last month the Institute announced the launching of what it called a “green finance center,” to help fund sustainable projects in China.

The global cities forum, sponsored in part by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the USG Corporation, additionally explored the potential of cities developing more public and private partnerships to realize their green and sustainable goals.

Those partnerships, it was emphasized, would prove more effective if they were not so much focused on any one given project so much as a broad-based or community effort.

Jennifer Scanlon, chief executive officer of the USG Corporation, said that it is the world’s cities that are going to continue to lead green and sustainable development projects in the future, noting that such cities are “at the helm of some of the world’s most environmental innovations, which makes them a driving force in implementing change for sustainable development.”

More than a century old, USG provides a wide array of ceiling, flooring, roofing, and other building materials for the construction industry.

By Garry Boulard