Often implementing programs that create meaningful change don’t involve pure innovation, groundbreaking technology or original approaches. In many cases – in both the private sector and across regulatory spheres – the best implementations rely on learning from leaders and applying established solutions to new environments.

With cities driving the global economy and the world tipping further into being a more thoroughly urbanized place, urban energy leaders in both the private and public sector world are trying less often to “reinvent the wheel” as they are learning from what C40 Climate Leadership Group director Michael Marinello says in this video is a “network effect.”

Places that look very different can face similar challenges or operate in similar ways can use the same solutions, Marinello pointed out. Those lessons can also be applied both to retrofitting existing generation capacity and to building out the new power sources – often renewable – that Navigant Consulting director Andrew Kinross says is part of the urban energy future.

In addition to simply meeting their own needs, city leaders understand the importance of both direct job creation around these industries and the importance of remaining a technology leader by promoting new solutions and keeping up with the latest lessons from peers and competitors.