New York, Portland and Denver are among a list of U.S. cities that have agreed to voluntarily report their greenhouse gas emissions.
The cities have joined forces with Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), an independent not-for-profit that collects climate change data from more than 3000 major corporations globally and has assembled the largest corporate greenhouse gas emissions database in the world.
Twenty-one cities were announced yesterday, with at least nine others expected to take part in the pilot project. Each city will assemble comparable carbon emission data within their jurisdiction’s operations–for instance, fire department, ambulance and police services, municipal buildings, waste transport and other services the cities provide or activities over which they exercise budgetary control.
Like the businesses who have joined the CDP program, the cities involved will be able to learn from peers about dealing with the risks and opportunities climate change presents.
They will follow CDP systems to assess and disclose climate change-related risks and opportunities relating to the whole city. Cities will use the Local Government Operations Protocol, coauthored by ICLEI, the California Climate Action Registry and the California Air Resources Board, which details the policy framework, calculation methodologies, and reporting guidance for quantifying greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from local government operations.
Paul Dickinson, CEO of CDP said "Over 70% of total global emissions are generated from cities and if you don’t measure these emissions, you cannot manage them. This is a vital step for city councils who wish to gain a better understanding of their own impact and by improving their understanding of risks and opportunities associated with climate change, best prepare their cities for a carbon constrained world."
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, said "The City of New York joins the world’s leading corporations in providing a complete, accurate accounting of its carbon emissions, the strategies it is employing to mitigate those emissions, and the results of its efforts through the Carbon Disclosure Project and ICLEI. This partnership between the world’s major corporations and, increasingly, its cities, highlights the importance of the cooperative action needed to successfully counter climate change."
Cities will submit their information to CDP by October 31, 2008 to be published in the first ever CDP Cities Report in January 2009.
The other cities participating include: Albany, NY; Albuquerque, NM; Anchorage, AK; Arlington, VA; Burlington, VT; Dubuque, IA; Edina, MN; Fairfield, IA; Haverford, PA; Las Vegas, NV; New Orleans, LA; North Little Rock, AR; Pacific Grove, CA; Park City, UT; Rohnert Park, CA; Saint Paul, MN; Washougal, WA; and West Palm Beach, FL.
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