THE GND IS TOO CAUTIOUS:

Cities have been dubbed as the laboratories of democracy, where new ideas include new forms of social investment and infrastructure and new models of governance get tried out, and on climate policy, it is small cities like Ithaca and Des Moines, Iowa, that are poised to lead. Both cities are part of a new UN-led consortium on climate called the 24/7 Carbon-free Energy Compact which also includes Google.

"Not enough attention is being paid to what works in small American cities, and that's not unique to decarbonization," Myrick said.

Ithaca had already lined up $100 million in private financing over the summer to support the effort from private equity partner Alturus. Its building energy efficiency partner BlocPower is in place and the city is ready to begin going into buildings and start the work on Thursday.

"We are ready to go, Day One," said the city's sustainability director Luis Aguirre-Torres.

Ithaca's energy efficiency partner BlocPower, which is a CNBC Disruptor 50 company, brought the investors on board to pay the upfront costs of the buildings project. BlocPower founder and CEO Bonnel Baird recently told CNBC that 100 million buildings across the U.S. waste $100 billion a year on fossil fuels. "There are significant savings that can be introduced," Baird said.

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