An ‘A List’ featuring 43 global cities has been released by environmental impact non-profit organisation, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), at the start of European Union Green Week.
Cape Town shares the podium with other global metropolitans such as Barcelona, London, Paris, Hong Kong and San Francisco. The cities are also among the 7% of global cities reporting to the CDP that have received the top score for climate leadership and action.
The Mother City is also one of only two African cities to make it onto the list, the other being Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon.
Kyra Appleby, global director for Cities, States and Regions at CDP said: “The need for action on climate change has never been more urgent, as the latest report from the IPCC has warned.
“Cities house more than half of the world's population and are responsible for over 70% of the world's energy-related carbon emissions, so they could make or break efforts to tackle climate change.
"Just 7% of cities who reported to CDP in 2018 received an A. We urge cities worldwide to step up their action, set targets in line with what the latest science says are needed to prevent dangerous climate change, and transparently share their progress," said Appleby.
According to CDP, 625 cities reported through its environmental disclosure platform in 2018 with 596 being scored. The cities were awarded a score of “A” to “D”, based on how effectively they were managing, measuring and tackling greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate-related risks, including water security.
An “A” score through CDP, which runs the global environmental reporting system for companies and sub-national governments, means a city demonstrates strong climate adaptation and mitigation strategies, and consistently tracks its emissions.
As global cities share many similar characteristics, they are also unique and diverse. This has led to climate action looking different around the world, depending on the size of the city, the size of its emissions, and its susceptibility to extreme weather events.
Actions being taken by A-List cities include introducing ultra-low emissions zones, as seen in London, and building new light rail systems which will drastically cut traffic emissions as seen in Calgary. There were also kudos for Taipei, which fixed 2 200 water leaks in the city, saving over 600 000 tons of water in the process.
“Calgary has been a leader in climate action for over a decade now,” Warren Brooke, business strategist at Calgary’s Climate Change Programme told the CDP. “We’ve been at the forefront across the province and the country, piloting strategies to reduce our emissions and increase our resilience. Making CDP’s A List in 2018 has been a great recognition of our work to date.”
All 43 cities on the A-List have ambitious targets to cut emissions, with 14 cities aiming to be climate-neutral or carbon-neutral by 2050. Among these are Melbourne, Reykjavík and The Hague. Melbourne aims to be carbon neutral by 2020, Reykjavík by 2040 and The Hague by 2030.
Four cities on CDP’s cities A-List, Canberra, Paris, Minneapolis and San Francisco, have a target to have all energy used in the city coming from renewable sources. Reykjavík has already achieved this target.
By and large, cities are at different stages when it comes to decarbonising their energy grids.
Paris, Minneapolis, and San Francisco source 35%, 24% and 59% of their energy respectively from renewable sources.
This is the first time CDP has released a list of cities awarded an A in a bid to drive up ambition in the face of the growing urgency of the climate challenge.
The latest climate science from the IPCC shows the global economy needs to halve global emissions by 2030 and reach net zero emissions by 2050 to have a good chance of keeping global temperatures within 1.5°C of warming.