OCTOBER 1, 2019 – New York: To enhance efforts to collect data on city sustainability efforts, CDP and the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) today announced a new partnership. Beginning in 2020, ACEEE will use energy efficiency and renewable energy data collected through CDP’s global environmental disclosure platform. The data will be fed into ACEEE’s City Clean Energy Scorecard, a report that ranks U.S. cities on their energy efficiency and renewable energy efforts.
Starting October 2019, ACEEE and CDP will invite 100 of the largest U.S. metropolitan areas to participate in the disclosure. The goal of the new partnership is to provide a standardized and accessible system for environmental reporting.
“Cities across the globe are responsible for over 70% of carbon emissions, and switching to renewable energy use is an excellent way to reduce their footprint,” said Katie Walsh, Head of Cities, States and Regions at CDP North America. “Our partnership with ACEEE is a strong step forward for upscaling municipal clean energy use. It will allow for richer environmental data and stronger analysis, enabling us to spotlight the cities that are leading the way toward mainstreaming clean energy use across the country.”
This data collection will serve as the basis for ACEEE’s annual city scorecard, a comprehensive ranking of U.S. cities’ clean energy efforts. The scorecard will rank those 100 participating U.S. cities on their policies and programs that save energy, promote renewable energy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It will also focus on efforts to embed equity in policymaking, capturing efforts to expand efficiency and clean energy programs for underserved communities.
“As more cities rise to the challenge of tackling climate change, what’s happening on the ground matters more than ever,” said Lauren Ross, Director of Local Policy at ACEEE. “Cities across the U.S. continue to advance some of the most innovative and boldest climate and energy policies. CDP disclosure allows cities to see progress on their climate and clean energy goals, which is vital to achieving these aims.”
This partnership is CDP’s latest effort to improve transparency and good governance around subnational climate action. In April 2019, CDP announced another streamlining partnership with ICLEI to allow local and regional governments to disclose their environmental footprints through the CDP ICLEI unified reporting system platform. In part due to these efforts, a record number of U.S. cities and states disclosed their environmental data to CDP in 2019, exceeding the 201 cities and states that disclosed in 2018.
- ENDS -
Notes to editor
For more information or for exclusive interviews, please contact:
Liz Posner, CDP | T: 646-585-8832 | E: [email protected]
Casey Skeens, ACEEE | T: 202-507-4043 | E: [email protected]
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. Voted number one climate research provider by investors and working with institutional investors with assets of US$96 trillion, we leverage investor and buyer power to motivate companies to disclose and manage their environmental impacts. Over 7,000 companies with over 50% of global market capitalization disclosed environmental data through CDP in 2018. This is in addition to the over 750 cities, states and regions who disclosed, making CDP’s platform one of the richest sources of information globally on how companies and governments are driving environmental change. CDP, formerly Carbon Disclosure Project, is a founding member of the We Mean Business Coalition. Visit www.CDP.net or follow us @CDP to find out more.
About ACEEE
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy acts as a catalyst to advance energy efficiency policies, programs, technologies, investments, and behaviors.