CDP Launches Carbon Emissions Disclosure Program for Cities

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Building on its carbon disclosure program for businesses, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) has unveiled its new CDP Cities program, which will provide a system for cities worldwide to report on their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate-related strategies.

CDP Cities, in partnership with the C40 and the Clinton Climate initiative (CCI), is asking the world's largest cities (the 40 member cities and 19 affiliate member cities of the C40) to voluntarily measure and report their GHG emissions to CDP. So far, London, Toronto and New York have agreed to report their carbon emissions data to CDP.

C40 helps cities drive and measure progress toward the goal of reducing carbon emissions 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. Houston is the first C40 city in the U.S. to announce a comprehensive retrofit program, signing a contract in April worth $23 million to retrofit 19 city buildings to increase their energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.

CDP will provide the C40 cities with a reporting platform that will allow them to track their progress on reducing GHG emissions and share the data with each other.

Leading companies including Autodesk, lead sponsor of CDP Cities, as well as Microsoft and Sun Life Financial are supporting this new program.

CDP Cities also released a new report, "The Case for City Disclosure" (PDF) written by Accenture, which details how standard disclosure from local governments can help cities in several areas. These include sharing best practices, managing risk, improving operational efficiencies, increasing cost savings, attracting investment and fostering innovation.

The initiative expands CDP's global climate change data system developed with Accenture, Microsoft and SAP, which also was used in a 2008 pilot of 18 cities in the United States.

In September, CDP released its latest Global 500 report and Carbon Performance Leadership Index (CPLI).

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