SASKATOON—The City of Saskatoon has been recognized by the Carbon Disclosure Project as one of only seven Canadian cities that are included on the non-profit group’s global CDP A List of new generation of climate leaders.
The CPD Cities A List, designed to encourage and support cities to ramp up their climate action and ambition plans, is based on environmental data disclosed by cities to their unified reporting system.
The CDP 2021 A List had 95 global cities that are taking bold leadership on environmental action and transparency. CDP, a global non-profit group, runs the world’s environmental disclosure system for companies including cities, states, and regions.
This is the second straight year that Saskatoon was included on the list since CPD began putting it out in 2018. The list started with 43 cities in 2018 and jumped by more than 200 per cent in 2019 with 105.
Joining Saskatoon on the CDP list of cities — in no particular order — are Calgary for Alberta; British Columbia’s Saanich, Surrey, and Vancouver; and Kitchener and Toronto for Ontario.
“We’re proud to be among the seven Canadian cities leading the way on climate action. The actions in our Climate Action Plan guide the City and the community over the next 30 years to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make Saskatoon more resilient against the changing climate,” said Sustainability director Jeanna South.
Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark added they have been committed regarding environmental management.
“What gets measured, gets managed — Saskatoon is committed to managing its environmental risks and impact, and to building a safe and secure city for people to live and work in. Disclosing information is a critical step toward taking the right action, and toward cities and governments at all levels developing the right climate change policies.”
The Saskatoon Home Energy Loan Program, which helps homeowners improve their homes’ energy performance, and the soon-to-be built 2.2-megawatt Dundonald Avenue Solar Farm that would have Saskatoon Light & Power generate renewable energy for its customers are some of the examples of the city’s efforts in mitigating the effects of climate change.
To be included on the list, a city must publicly disclose and inventory its city-wide emissions aside from setting an emissions reduction target, renewable energy target, and published a climate action plan. A climate risk and vulnerability assessment must also be completed, and the candidate city should have a climate adaptation plan to show how it would take on climate hazards.
Many CDP A List cities are also taking a variety of other leadership actions, including political commitment from a city’s mayor to tackle climate change. CDP A List cities are taking twice as many mitigation and adaptation measures as non-A List cities, and also identify more than twice as many opportunities.
All 95 cities on this year’s CDP A List were also celebrated for demonstrating that urgent climate action can be achieved in a global scale by cities with different climate priorities. However, actions need to go further and faster to meet the new targets agreed at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) held in Glasgow early this month.
