City of Columbus Among 105 Globally To Score “A” For Leading Climate Action
The City of Columbus earned an “A” for its actions to stem
climate change, according an organization that works worldwide to encourage
companies and governments to reduce their carbon emissions.
In its 2019
Cities A List report, CDP Global has listed Columbus among cities that the
organization says has lead on transparency and ambitious environmental action.
“Climate Change is a social justice issue affecting our most
vulnerable residents,” said Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther. “Ninety plus
degree days and intense rains are not merely inconvenient but can be life
threatening.”
“Through my Sustainable Columbus initiative, we are working
with external partners and internally with key city departments to guide us in
finding solutions. We’re focused on fighting climate change, protecting our
natural resources, reducing waste and engaging our residents to bring lasting
change to our city,” the Mayor said.
CDP, a global nonprofit, graded cities on leadership,
management, awareness and disclosure, as well as the level of action taken.
Last year, 43 cities around the world made the A list.
To score an “A,” a city must have a city-wide emissions
inventory, have set an emissions reduction target, have published a climate
action plan and completed a climate adaptation plan to demonstrate how it will
tackle climate hazards now and into the future.
Columbus has been recognized for its actions to develop
robust climate change strategies, to track and limit and reduce emissions, to
assess and mitigate climate risks and to report this information its 2019
disclosure to CDP.
“Congratulations to Columbus,” said Katie Walsh, Head of
Cities, States and Regions for CDP North America. “It’s exciting to see the
U.S. and Canada leading with the most A List Cities this year – 34 and 7,
respectively. They are demonstrating how municipal governments can safeguard
citizens in the face of our new environmental reality and build a climate-safe
future. We look forward to seeing other cities follow the lead of Columbus and
other cities on our A List.”
The City of Columbus is working to reduce green gas
emissions by 30 percent from city operations and by 20 percent from community
sources by the end of the year. To meet these goals, Columbus is taking
ambitious action in the building and transportation sectors. The City has
implemented a workforce development program to train community energy
advocates, completed more than 24,000 home energy audits, streamlined its
commercial property assessed clean energy financing program, and is
pursuing an energy and water usage benchmarking ordinance through City
Council. The City also continues to transform the transportation sector
and increase public transit ridership through the Smart Columbus and C-Pass
initiatives.