Carbon Disclosure Project: The Case for City Disclosure

From the report:

Cities are at the forefront of our global response to climate change. Cities consume approximately 60–80% of the world’s energy production. 

Cities are also likely to be extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

At the same time, cities are wellplaced to act quickly and effectively to combat climate change and its effects.

There is gathering motivation and intent to reduce emissions, evident in the emergence of programs that support cities to drive forward sustainability strategies. However, city officials often lack the data required to understand both their key sources of emissions and the impact of their low-carbon initiatives. 

A common disclosure platform can provide the tool for such data collection. This data can aid cities, as well as inform critical stakeholders such as residents and the businesses located within a city. This paper outlines the case for city disclosure and demonstrates how climate change reporting can become an essential component to enable cities to:

• Drive economic competitiveness through the realization of operational efficiencies and the attraction of investment and innovation;

• Improve climate change risk management;

• Demonstrate the value of cities’ sustainability strategies to society.