The Green Building Alliance is challenging Pittsburgh property owners to reduce the use of water, energy, and transportation emissions by 50% by 2030. Green Building Alliance C-E-O Mike Schiller, said the property owners who have committed to the initiative are called “2030 Districts,” and others have already been established in Seattle and Cleveland.

“Within the Pittsburgh 2030 District, as they can develop ideas, as they can share best practices, as they can help each other identify where the opportunities are, what works, what doesn’t work,” Schiller said. “The opportunity to work with each other is one of the great strengths of creating this district.”

Schiller says cutting water and energy consumption and transportation emissions in half is a lot to ask, but said there’s time for a gradual process.

“There’s 18 years to get there, and there’s a lot of ways to get there,” Schiller said. “the challenge is to work steadily toward those goals and in the doing both save a lot of resources that hopefully save a lot of money and make the buildings, all of the properties that much healthier.”

More than 60 buildings have committed to participating in the 18 year initiative amounting to more than 23 million square feet in downtown Pittsburgh. Schiller says the 2030 Districts, will help improve the health, longevity, and productivity of the buildings and companies participating in the challenge.

“This is a great initiative that we hope everybody will take on because it will make the world a better place,” Schiller said.