Why Pittsburgh? Why Not?
Pittsburgh Makes Perfect Sense for the G-20

The upcoming G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh on September 24-25, 2009 is an unprecedented opportunity to showcase the ‘new America’ to the leaders of the world economy.  Pittsburgh today is a model for economic and environmental transformation in the United States and elsewhere.

• Pittsburgh has survived wrenching economic change and reinvented itself. We engineered our comeback with a balanced, innovation-driven economy based on strengths in advanced manufacturing, digital technologies, financial services, health care and life sciences, higher education and research, and energy solutions.

• The Pittsburgh region has largely avoided the real estate meltdown that led to the global financial crisis.

• During the ongoing recession, the region’s unemployment rate has tracked below the national average, and the gap is growing between the rising national jobless rate and Pittsburgh’s rate.

• Central to half the population of the U.S. and Canada, the Pittsburgh region boasts an affordable cost of living and a high quality of life, distinguished by highly-touted arts, culture and outdoor recreational opportunities.

Pittsburgh-based companies have become global in scope while keeping their roots. Robust and growing connections to new markets around the world have helped to build Pittsburgh’s economic strength. 

• Pittsburgh-born corporations with global reach include Alcoa, ATI, BNY Mellon, Heinz, PPG, PNC, MSA, U. S. Steel, Matthews, Kennametal, ANSYS, ANSOFT, Respironics, Black Box, UPMC, and Westinghouse.

• In all, more than 300 foreign-owned companies are headquartered or base major business units here, including Ansaldo, Bayer, Elliot Corporation, GSK, LANXESS, Mitsubishi, Philips and Toshiba.

• In 2008, Site Selection magazine ranked Pittsburgh among the Top 10 regions for business investment, in part because it outperforms much larger regions.

Pittsburgh is a green leader with a 150-year history of energy innovation.

• From the first commercial oil well (1859) to the first natural gas pipeline, the nation’s first commercial nuclear power plant to the origination of air emissions control technologies, Pittsburgh has led the way in powering the world and producing, distributing and conserving energy.

• Pittsburgh has led the nation in renewing, reclaiming and redeveloping our environment through a series of lasting public/private partnerships going back more than 65 years – from the first air quality legislation to robust reclamation of brownfield sites during the past 25 years.

• We are the materials innovator and supplier for a greener global economy – leveraging our world-class manufacturing capabilities to create better-performing green products and building technologies.  Pittsburgh is a “Top 10 Metro” for Green Jobs (Global Insight) while Pennsylvania is home to more than 5,000 green building product manufacturers employing 200,000 people.

• The David L. Lawrence Convention Center, where the G-20 meetings will be held, is the world’s first and largest gold LEED-certified convention center.  Pittsburgh is home to more than 30 LEED-certified green buildings, including the first green college residence hall and Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, which is pursuing a net-zero energy and water designation as a “Living Building.”