First Al Gore made us aware of the dangers of climate change, and now Bill Clinton has gotten some of the world's largest financial institutions to help tackle the problem.

The Clinton Climate Initiative's Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program will make $5 billion available in loans to retrofit energy inefficient buildings in 15 cities across the globe.

The loans will be maid to public and private institutions and will be paid back through savings, a win-win for all parties. Citigroup, UBS, Deutsche Bank, ABN AMRO and JPMorgan Chase will be loaning the money to organizations in: New York, London, Tokyo, Bangkok, Johannesburg, Berlin, Chicago, Houston, Karachi, Melbourne, Mexico City, Rome, Sao Paulo, Seoul and Toronto.

Through techniques such as better insulation and more efficient cooling and heating systems, building operators can dramatically reduce their energy usage. Since these improvements will pay back themselves in a few years, there is no downside. The building retrofit plan will also be a boost to the local economies of these cities.

So kudos to Mr. Clinton et al for picking this low hanging energy fruit. Poor Al always seems to be the bridesmaid.