Across the U.S. and Canada, cities and municipalities are building toward a greener, healthier future for their citizens – and are taking steps to achieve them today.
The 2023 CDP A List includes cities and counties large and small across the region, providing a template for what best-in-class environmental action looks like. Disclosing environmental data through CDP-ICLEI Track is a crucial step for cities, helping them to assess ongoing measures and leading with best practice, like setting science-based targets.
As cities face more frequent and severe climate challenges, which disproportionately impact the most historically marginalized and low-income communities, they can look to CDP’s A List to provide a roadmap to thriving in the future.
Here are seven impressive actions among North American cities and municipalities on this year’s A List.
1) Investing in city-wide resilience
For many A List cities, reckoning with severe impacts of climate change has been a wakeup call, inciting bold environmental action.
The City of Houston has suffered immensely from extreme weather events like Hurricane Harvey, with particular impact on low-income communities of color. Houston’s Mayor Turner said: "This year, the City of Houston published its Resilient Hubs Masterplan, and implementation is underway. This network of resilience hubs will increase resilience during severe weather and disasters, including storms, floods, loss of power, or even extreme heat, at the neighborhood level – particularly in disadvantaged and under-resourced communities that too often find themselves in a state of constant recovery."
2) Setting science-based targets
This year, for the first time, cities were required to set a science-based emissions reduction target in order to earn an A score.
Village of Oak Park, Illinois, is one of these, with its adopted target of reducing emissions 60% by 2030 from a 2019 baseline. As Village President Vicki Scaman said, “the Community Building Electrification Program, one of many key strategies to achieving net-zero by 2050 as outlined in the Climate Ready Oak Park plan, will provide resources and tools for all residential and commercial buildings in Oak Park to ease the transition from gas to electric units.”
3) Ramping up renewables
A List cities are taking ambitious steps to cut their own carbon footprints, deploying renewable energy at large to drive cleaner air for citizens and reduce their impact on global warming. Through its Solar City Program, the Halifax Regional Municipality has dedicated almost US$15 million to help local property owners install solar panels and generate 7.30 MW of renewable energy. As a result of this initiative, homeowners are expected to save a total of over US$1 million annually in utility costs.
“The science couldn’t be clearer – more than 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the Halifax region come from buildings,” said Halifax Regional Municipality Mayor Mike Savage. “The municipality is leading by example and, by 2030, we are committed to achieving net-zero municipal operations. By 2050, residents and local businesses alike will benefit from the investments across our economy in building retrofits, renewable energy and energy storage.”
4) Building sustainable infrastructure
Leading cities in North America are implementing sustainable infrastructure projects that involve the whole community in climate solutions.
Windsor, Ontario’s Residential Deep Energy Efficiency Retrofits (aka Greener Homes Windsor) is finalizing its program offering. The program aims to offer technical and financial assistance to homeowners to improve energy efficiency in homes. Through this program, the city will offer low-interest loans (up to ~US$30,000) to homeowners to help make energy efficient retrofits to their homes, such as air sealing, insulation, and windows and doors. Loans will be repaid through a Local Improvement Charge (LIC) on property tax bills. It’s a voluntary program whose goal is to retrofit 80% of single family homes built prior to 2018, resulting in 30-50% reductions in energy usage and GHG emissions.
5) Creating inclusive climate solutions for a just transition
Cities that are ahead of the curve on climate solutions are prioritizing low-income citizens in their actions.
Ann Arbor, Michigan is working to address the barrier of upfront costs of installing onsite renewable energy generation. Through the Ann Arbor Solarize program, the city offers discounts on residential solar installations by connecting installers with a pool of residents, helping them save millions in upfront costs and monthly energy bill savings. The program has been structured to scale impact, and a low-to-moderate income program is currently in development to make solar available to more households.
Mayor Christopher Taylor said: “Ann Arbor has set the goal of a just transition to community-wide carbon neutrality by 2030 and our work to achieve this goal will also help us improve quality of life, foster greater community resilience, enhance neighborhood social cohesion, and create a more equitable and just community for all existing and future Ann Arborites.”
6) Safeguarding nature
Increasingly, major economic actors at the vanguard of environmental action are moving beyond management of GHG emissions and increasingly focusing on nature. This year’s A List cities are just as concerned with clean water use and local biodiversity as they are with climate impact.
Denver, Colorado for example, is focused on plastics waste. Its Single-Use Accessory Restriction Ordinance requires all retail food establishments to provide single-use service ware only upon request by a customer, to drastically reduce the amount of condiments, plastic silverware and straws used across the city.
7) Fostering healthy communities through climate action
Finally, cities that are already seeing the impacts of climate change and preparing for conditions to grow more extreme are in some cases creating new departments within city government to focus on adaptation.
In 2021, the City of Phoenix, Arizona was the first in the nation to create a publicly funded Office of Heat Response and Mitigation (OHRM or HeatReadyPHX). The goal of the OHRM is to protect citizens against the growing hazard of urban heat, including both heat response and heat mitigation. The Office coordinates programs and policies to help lower urban temperatures and safeguard public health, while also collaborating with other governments and organizations to share potential solutions.
Congratulations to the U.S. and Canadian cities that made the 2023 A List – we hope to see many others join you in environmental leadership in years to come!