LEICESTER has held onto its place as a global leader on climate action, achieving a top score on CDP’s 'Cities A List' for the fourth year running.
It means Leicester is one of 119 cities worldwide to receive an A rating from environmental impact charity CDP for bold leadership, ambition and transparency on environmental action in its response to the climate emergency, despite the pressures of a challenging economic situation.
This year, over 900 cities were rated for their climate action by CDP, with Leicester among the 13 per cent to receive the top A rating.
To score an A, a city must have a city-wide emissions inventory, have set an emissions reduction target, published a climate action plan and have completed a climate adaptation plan to demonstrate how it will tackle climate hazards, among other actions.
CDP celebrated Leicester and the other 118 cities on the A List for showing urgent and impactful climate action, having ambitious emission reduction targets, and for building resilience against climate change.
The charity’s analysis shows that A List cities are taking four times as many mitigation and adaptation measures as non-A List cities
Deputy city mayor Cllr Adam Clarke, who leads on climate, culture and economy, said: “We’re incredibly proud to be recognised by CDP for our work on climate action with a place on its A List for the fourth year in a row.
“When we launched our Climate Emergency Strategy and first action plan in 2020, we were under no illusion about the scale of the challenge we had set ourselves as a city.
“As a council, we are working hard to cut our own emissions and to support local people, schools and business to make the changes needed to help reduce the city’s overall carbon footprint.
“To meet our ambitions as a city will require significant and ongoing support from the Government and local stakeholders.
“Being on the CDP’s global A List shows that Leicester is demonstrating strong leadership on climate action through effective investment and ambitious action, just as we hope national governments will do at COP28 beginning later this month.”
Since launching the first Leicester Climate Emergency Action Plan in 2020, Leicester City Council has led on a range of initiatives and secured external funding representing an investment of over £120million in low carbon initiatives.
The city council is now consulting on a new draft Climate Emergency Action plan that sets out a series of proposals for how the city can further reduce carbon emissions and adapt to a changing climate over the next five years.
People can have their say on the council’s proposals, including what would make it easier for them to do their bit as part of city-wide efforts, by completing an online survey at www.leicester.gov.uk/consultations
The closing date for comments is Sunday 10 December.