Several British cities have been ranked among the best in the world for their climate adaptation plans and efforts to reach net zero.
Manchester, Belfast, York and Nottingham are just some of the cities to join the Carbon Disclosure Project’s (CDP) A-List in 2022. Edinburgh, Leeds, Newcastle, Reading, Leicester, Essex, the West Midlands Combined Authority and parts of London were also recognised.
The non-profit project evaluates emission inventories, climate action plans and climate risk assessments and scores emission reduction targets. All sectors, from energy and transport to water and food, are considered.
For the first time more than 1,000 cities were scored by the project, with just over one in ten reaching the A-List.
Nottingham is one such city, receiving recognition for its ambitious aims to be the first carbon neutral UK city by 2028, with the latest government figures revealing that CO2 emissions in the area have fallen by 57.7% since 2005.
Cllr Sally Longford, Portfolio Holder for Energy, Environment and Waste Services, said: ‘I would like to thank all of the partners who have been involved in our work to make Nottingham a carbon neutral city.
‘While our progress towards in tackling the climate crisis is good, and we have had lots of great achievements, we cannot be complacent. Much more needs to be done to ensure we protect future generations from the impacts of climate change.’
The council is now encouraging organisations in the city to get involved in its Green Partnership programme, with members committing to producing progress reports on becoming carbon neutral.
Sheffield just missed out on a spot on the A-List, scoring an A- which still places it among the top ranked sustainable cities in Europe.
The city has developed a framework alongside partners to tackle the climate crisis, has introduced climate impact assessment as standard for projects and decision making, and is working on flood defence projects.
Cllr Mazher Iqbal, Co-Chair of the Transport, Regeneration and Climate Policy Committee, said: ‘I’m really pleased that Sheffield is headed in the right direction with how the council and other organisations and people in the city are working together to take action against climate change. Our CDP submission and resulting score demonstrates that we’re getting systems and targets in place and can evidence a number of good mitigation and adaptation actions. We believe all of these strategies have contributed significantly to our A- rating.’
Iqbal said the CDP had provided advice on how Sheffield can enhance its score, such as through a climate risk and vulnerability assessment to identify risks and adaptation measures and through energy target monitoring.
He added: ‘We will work hard to get these into effect as a priority for the organisation and the city. But we’re proud of this achievement and we will keep building on this to be better and better.’
Photo by Tom Podmore