City Implementation

The Smart Surfaces Coalition is committed to helping cities globally rapidly adopt Smart Surfaces. In addition to providing cities with rigorous cost-benefit analytics, the Coalition and its partners have established programs to support the adoption and implementation of Smart Surfaces strategies. One such program is the Coalition’s regulatory mapping initiative, in which the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University and a national group of law firms are working together to map regulatory obstacles and best practices across the United States.

This page describes some of SSC's recent efforts to increase the adoption of Smart Surfaces in cities worldwide. While individual Smart Surfaces exist in nearly every city worldwide, these cities are working towards an integrated deployment of Smart Surfaces at scale.

Case Study: Baltimore

In the summer of 2021, we released a report for and with the City of Baltimore analyzing the potential of Smart Surfaces to cost-effectively cool the city, cut flooding, mitigate climate change, improve public health, and advance equity. The report found that implementing Smart Surfaces in Baltimore would cut peak summer temperatures by more than four degrees Fahrenheit with a benefit-cost ratio of over 10:1. Following the release of the report and subsequent press coverage, the Baltimore City Council introduced several bills that would accelerate Smart Surfaces implementation. The introduced legislation was met with widespread support from public health, sustainability, and equity-focused leaders. However, in response to the cool roof ordinance, industry groups representing dark surfaces expressed opposition. A different roofing industry group indicated that these arguments were based on misinformation. With partners ACEEE and IMT, the SSC evaluated the claims made by both industry groups and determined that the dark surfaces industry group’s claims were demonstrably false. The below rebuttal is intended to support cities globally in debunking misleading claims against expanded urban adoption of reflective surfaces.

2023 Update: Baltimore City Council approved the city's cool roof ordinance on June 12, 2023, and it was signed by Mayor Brandon Scott on September 18. The ordinance requires cool roof coverings on newly constructed buildings and additions to existing buildings with low-slope roofs.