Oracle is pleased to announce that Bastian Fischer, vice president and general manager for EMEA, Oracle Utilities, will participate in the 2010 Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) Urban Roundtable for Mayors and Ministers on 25 May in France. The roundtable, hosted by OECD Secretary General Angel Gurría, will help determine how cities can contribute to green growth incentives and address the challenges to success. The OECD is developing a global Green Growth Strategy that will identify policies and approaches that can shift production and consumption towards a clean, low-carbon and sustainable economy.

Already, more than 500 European cities have signed up to the 2020 carbon pledge to reduce carbon emissions by 20 per cent in ten years. This initiative is driving the adoption of innovative technologies such as the smart gird, which deliver substantial benefits to support this mission by allowing utilities to manage their distribution grids more efficiently, reducing emissions and lowering the risk of outages. A successful smart grid infrastructure will allow green cities to manage their energy usage and succeed in their pledge to meet European targets for carbon reduction, which will undoubtedly be a discussion topic at the roundtable.

For more information, visit the OECD Web site.