According to a plan announced by Bill Clinton yesterday, five global banks will raise $5 billion in loans to make existing buildings up to 50 percent more energy efficient in 15 different cities. The 15 cities (including New York, Tokyo, Toronto and Paris) are part of the C40 Large Cities Climate Group, which aims to share ideas and force a cut in the price of technology designed to combat global warming.

Citigroup, UBS, Deutsche Bank, ABN AMRO and JPMorgan Chase have agreed to arrange $1 billion each for the Clinton Climate Initiative’s Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program. The money will be used to fund the building make-overs at no net cost.

“Buildings consume 40 percent of the world’s energy and account for one third of greenhouse gases,” London Mayor Ken Livingstone said. “This procurement alliance will make it financially feasible for cities to radically cut emissions.”