Cape Town - Cape Town has claimed yet another accolade, this time for its efforts and contributions towards climate change.
The City of Cape Town announced over the weekend that Cape Town was the only African city to receive the A-rating for climate action and transparency graded by the 2023 Cities A-List published by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).
The CDP is a global non-profit organisation that regulates the world’s environmental disclosure system for states, cities, and companies. The A-List was initiated by the CDP in 2018 and works to recognise cities that are transparent and committed to their mission to act against climate change.
The CDP scores cities from A to D based on their climate change response disclosure each year. The score indicates how effectively cities are managing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate risks, according to the City.
To score an A, a city must disclose its climate actions through the CDPICLEI Track, have a city-wide emissions inventory, and have a published climate action plan.
Over 100 cities, stretching from Canada to the Philippines, were named as global leaders in environmental action, ambition and transparency on CDP’s annual cities A-List, according to the CDP. Commenting on the A-List rating, the City said that it affirmed the city’s status as Africa’s leading city for climate action.
“It is also an important signal to the international investor community, and finance institutions, who make investment decisions based on this level of climate action transparency.
“Investor confidence is vital for delivering on our R120 billion 10-year infrastructure portfolio, which includes major climate action projects to build energy and water security.”
At a policy level, the City says that it is committed to achieving the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.
“This commitment is embedded in our climate change strategy and related action plan, which set the pathway towards this goal,” the City said.
The City of Cape Town is tackling the growing issue of climate change by actively working to achieve carbon neutrality and climate resilience by 2050. Along with the climate change strategy, the development of a climate change action plan sets a pathway towards its carbon neutrality and climate resilience goal.
Carbon neutrality involves introducing new technologies to clean up the fuels and activities that cause greenhouse gas emissions and global warming while enhancing our social, economic and environmental goals.
nomalanga.tshuma@inl.co.za