Carbon Disclosure Project turns spotlight on cities

Cities around the world could from next year face calls to publicly release information on their carbon emissions and climate change strategy as part of a new initiative from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).

The investor-backed lobby group, which already issues requests for climate change data to the world's largest listed firms, has just completed a pilot project alongside the ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability group, which saw 18 US cities including Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, LA and New York, release details of their environmental footprint and climate change strategies.

Speaking to BusinessGreen.com, CDP's head of public sector Tom Carnac, said that the organisation is now looking to expand the initiative and is likely to request data from a larger number of cities next year, including cities outside the US.

"CDP has proved effective at helping firms create efficiencies across their operations, and the question now is whether the same approach will work for cities," he said. "It is highly likely we will be writing to more city governments around the middle of next year requesting data on carbon emissions and, in particular, climate adaptation strategies."

The initiative has already secured expressions of interest from some insurance companies, according to Carnac, who predicted that formal backing from the insurance sector would encourage more city governments to respond to the information requests.

"Insurers are really interested in this data as it helps them assess how well cities are adapting to climate change impacts," he explained. "As the initiative expands they could use the data to inform their underwriting activities and offer lower premiums to those cities with strong adaptation measures in place."

The pilot project saw 18 US cities take part out of 30 cities that had originally expressed interest in taking part in the trial.

Carnac said that the responses, which were published yesterday, revealed that while city officials were taking the challenge presented by climate change increasingly seriously, few had yet drawn up comprehensive mitigation and adaptation strategies.

"The cities were aware that climate change is impacting them and they know they need to adapt, but few had undertaken full risk assessments – looking at the risks faced by their supply chains, for example," he said. "Cities have huge potential for emission reductions, but officials need to put in place reduction strategies for their own operations first, as that gives the authority to roll out policies for the rest of the city."