November 15, 2023
Edmonton has been recognized by the
Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) as one of 119 cities across the globe that is taking bold leadership on environmental action and transparency, despite the pressures of a challenging global economic situation.
“While this recognition of our climate leadership is encouraging, we know that mitigating climate change is an ongoing challenge with no single solution,” said Kent Snyder, Branch Manager for Planning and Environment Services. “We saw this year that despite our recognized efforts, it was not enough to prevent an increase in community greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Our focus is to continue to drive toward our target of being a net-zero emissions organization by 2040 and as a city by 2050.”
To score an “A” on the CDP A-List, among other actions, a city must disclose publicly through the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (CDP-ICLEI) Track, have a city-wide emissions inventory and have published a climate action plan. It must also complete a climate risk and vulnerability assessment and have a climate adaptation goal to demonstrate how it will tackle climate hazards. A total of 939 cities received a rating for their climate action from CDP with just over 10 per cent receiving an “A” rating this year.
Initiatives like the residential Clean Energy Improvement Program, the City’s green energy purchase (which anticipates 100 per cent of City operations will be powered by wind and solar next year) and the building retrofit program to make City buildings more energy efficient are all examples of actions the City is taking to help reduce its carbon output. An important focus going forward will be to encourage reduced community emissions.
Additional information:
About CDP
CDP is a global non-profit that runs the world’s environmental disclosure system for companies, cities, states and regions. Founded in 2000, CDP pioneered using capital markets and corporate procurement to motivate companies to disclose their environmental impacts, and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, safeguard water resources and protect forests.
Over 24,000 organizations around the world disclosed data through CDP in 2023 - including over 1,100 cities, states and regions. CDP is a founding member of the Science Based Targets initiative, We Mean Business Coalition, The Investor Agenda and the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative. For more information visit
cdp.net.
