Accounting for up to 70% of global emissions and home to 55% of the global population, cities are at the forefront of this challenge and have a vital role to play in meeting global targets. By taking actions to cut emissions and reduce vulnerabilities, cities can gain multiple co-benefts from climate action.

Every year, cities voluntarily report their climate and environmental performance data to the CDP-ICLEI Unified Reporting System, enabling cities to monitor their climate impact and drive climate ambition. In 2019, 861 cities from around the world disclosed their data. Of these cities, 521 (or 61%) reported taking actions to mitigate climate change, based on a list of 48 possible mitigation actions provided in the reporting system. These cities represent 73 countries and an estimated population of 500 million people, or roughly 8% of the global population

The five most reported mitigation actions were:

• Improving building energy efficiency through retrofits
• Switching to more energy-efficient street lighting
• Installing on-site renewable energy generation on buildings
• Increasing low or zero carbon energy generation
• Improving building codes and standards for new builds

What is a co-benefit?

Climate co-benefits are beneficial outcomes from action that are not directly related to climate change mitigation. Such co-benefits include cleaner air, green job creation, public health benefits from active travel, and biodiversity improvement through expansion of green space. Planning climate action that also delivers co-benefits can enable cities to bolster support from key stakeholders, mobilize scarce resources across city departments, and maximize opportunities to address multiple social, environmental, and economic challenges.

Which municipalities disclosed their environmental data through CDP platform in 2019?

1.      İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality

2.      Bursa Metropolitan Municipality

3.      Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality

4.      Tuzla Municipality

5.      Village of Kadıovacık

6.      Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality

7.      İzmir Metropolitan Municipality

8.      Denizli Metropolitan Municipality

9.      Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality

Please click here to read the report.