In 2007 OVG committed to invest $1 billion in the development of sustainable buildings to reduce their energy use up to 60 percent. In 2010 OVG completed this commitment a promising two years ahead of schedule. Today Mr. Van Oostrom will announce his second billion-dollar Commitment to Action at the 2011 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting.

The new commitment is called the Global Climate Change Real Estate Fund. OVG Real Estate, the European leader in sustainable real estate development, aims to work closely together with the so called C40 cities network, another Clinton initiative. The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) is a network of large and engaged cities from around the world committed to implementing meaningful and sustainable climate-related actions locally that will help address climate change globally.

Operationally, OVG Real Estate will invest $1 billion in the next five years in this global fund and a knowledge network and online platform to catalyze sustainable development in the built environment through environmentally sound new building construction and retrofits of existing buildings. The fund will be a model for large-scale financing of climate positive real estate development.

By 2020, 55% of global construction spending will be in developing countries, according to 2010 global construction perspectives. The next decade will see a continuing shift towards Asia and other emerging markets where rising populations, rapid urbanization and strong economic growth are the drivers for construction according to Global Construction Perspectives and Oxford Economics. That is the reason why OVG Real Estate wants to share her advanced expertise on sustainable development with fast developing cities. The upcoming years, OVG will focuses on cities like Paris, London, Berlin, New York to start with.

Here are the pictures of CGI 2011: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cgiphotos/6170849834/in/set-72157627691101876/