Indianapolis Among Leading Group of Cities Scored ‘A’ on Climate Leadership
Indianapolis– The City of Indianapolis has been highlighted as a global leader on climate action by environmental impact non-profitCDP, achieving a place on CDP’s Cities A List.
Indianapolis scores top grade on climate action from environment impact non-profit CDP.
Just 7% of cities who reported their environmental data through CDP in 2018 received an A.
CDP is publishing its list of A List Cities for the first time in a bid to drive climate ambition and strong action.
Every year, over 600 cities report their climate data through CDP’s environmental disclosure platform and in doing so demonstrate strong action, transparency and ambition. All publicly disclosed data is made available free of charge on CDP’s Open Data Portal.
Reporting through CDP allows cities to set targets, embed strong climate action and address risk to citizens, businesses and infrastructure. In 2018, over 625 cities reported through CDP (of which 596 cities were scored) and gained data-driven insights into gaps and opportunities for climate policy-development, resource and risk management and signalled projects in need of investment.
For the first time, CDP is publishing its Cities A List to showcase climate leadership and encourage more cities to accelerate their climate action. In 2018, CDP has scored cities from A to D- based on their disclosure, for how effectively they are managing, measuring and tackling greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate risks.
Kyra Appleby, Global Director for Cities, States and Regions at CDP said:
“Cities simply cannot manage what they don’t measure, and environmental disclosure represents a crucial component of strong climate action. Just 7% of cities that reported their climate data to CDP in 2018 scored an A. I would like to congratulate Indianapolis, which has demonstrated its leadership on the world stage and its commitment to tackle climate change and protect its citizens.”
Indianapolis has been recognized for its actions in the last reporting year to develop robust climate change strategies, track and act to limit and reduce emissions, assess and mitigate climate risks, and transparently report this information in its 2018 disclosure to CDP.
Through publicly reporting their climate data, cities on CDP’s A List provide a blueprint for cities worldwide to reduce emissions and build climate resilience. The latest IPCC science shows us that the world is not on track to limit warming to 1.5°C, beyond which even half a degree will heighten the risk of drought, floods, extreme heat and poverty for hundreds of millions of people.
At present, national commitments will lead to warming of 3°C according to research by Carbon Tracker. As such cities have a crucial role to play both in accelerating national action and reducing emissions in line with the latest science on 1.5°C.
Evidence from a 2018 UN report supports the need for cities to step up their action to bolster national ambition. The report states that non-state actors contribute to climate action even beyond their own quantified emissions-reductions through building confidence in national targets, providing good practice examples and assisting in national climate plan formulation. Strong subnational data also helps national governments to better understand local climate action and facilitates national planning.
The full list of cities that made this year’s CDP’s Cities A List is available here.
CDP assesses cities based on the information they provide in their response. CDP gives cities an overall score based on their awareness and management of environmental risks and their demonstration of best practices associated with environmental leadership, such as setting ambitious and meaningful targets and carrying out vulnerability assessments.
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Note for editors
A description of the scoring methodology for the Cities A List is available on CDP’s website. A total of 596 cities were scored out of the 630 who reported to CDP in 2018. These cities all reported before the deadline.
About CDP
CDP is an international non-profit that drives companies and governments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, safeguard water resources and protect forests. Over 750 cities, states and regions disclosed data through CDP in 2018. This is in addition to the 7,000 companies who disclosed, making CDP’s platform one of the richest sources of information globally on how cities, subnational governments and companies are driving environmental change. Visit https://cdp.net/cities or follow us @CDP to find out more.