Banking on the Future

Quick: When you hear the word "green" what's the first word that pops into your head?

If you said "tree" then that explains why you're visiting this website. If you said "money"....congratulations! You're on your way to saving the planet.

And some leading financial institutions are beginning to see green as well. Maybe money does grow on trees. Or maybe saving the planet makes good business sense.

Here are five good reasons to have renewed hope in the financial world:

1. Citi Bank
2. Deutsche Bank
3. JP Morgan Chase
4. UBS
5. ABN Amro

In a plan announced last week by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, each of these institutions have committed $1 Billion dollars - that's right, one billion with a "b" - dollars each, to retrofitting buildings for energy efficiency in 16 cities around the world. Wow!

In large cities, buildings can account for as much as 70% of their greenhouse gases. The participating cities will begin the work with municipal buildings first, and will streamline the permit process, allowing building owners a chance to move more quickly to retrofit their own properties.

Here are the cities that will begin greening under the new agreement: Bangkok, Berlin, Chicago, Houston, Johannesburg, Karachi, London, Mumbai, Melbourne, Mexico City, New York, Rome, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Tokyo, and Toronto.

The Clinton Foundation is talking to companies that supply building materials and systems to lower the cost of their products under the agreement. But the number of workers trained in energy efficiency installation, as well as supply-chain challenges, are looming obstacles to Clinton's plan.

But job creation is a tremendous side-benefit of work launched on this scale.

"No offense to the mayor of Mumbai," said Clinton, "but we can't outsource greening a roof. Someone must be here on my roof in Harlem."

In the U.S. there has been a very limited market for skilled photovoltaic installers, for example. A few companies that stand to gain from the new market such as Johnson Controls Inc., Siemens, and Honeywell and Trane, are already training new workers to meet the demand and lower prices.

It's all beginning to make some sense. Green makes green.