Nov. 18, 2021
Contact: Peter Nierengarten, PE
Environmental Director
479-575-8272
pnierengarten@fayetteville-ar.gov
Fayetteville Named Among Climate Leaders on CDP 2021 "A List"
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.— Fayetteville has been recognized by CDP as an “A List” city. It is one of 95 cities across the globe that is taking bold leadership on environmental action and transparency, despite the continued pressures of the coronavirus pandemic on local economies.
Designed to encourage and support cities to ramp up their climate action and ambition, CDP’s “Cities A List” is based on environmental data disclosed by cities to the CDP-ICLEI Unified Reporting System.
To score an A, a city must disclose publicly and have a city-wide emissions inventory, have set an emissions reduction target and a renewable energy target for the future and have published a climate action plan. It must also complete a climate risk and vulnerability assessment and have a climate adaptation plan to demonstrate how it will tackle climate hazards. Many “A List” cities are also taking a variety of other leadership actions, including political commitment from a city’s mayor to tackle climate change.
Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan said: “Fayetteville is extremely proud to once again be selected for the Cities A List. Our community has been working together for many years to develop and implement a strategic plan to reduce our impact on the environment. Our success in this effort shows that communities can take a leadership position and make a difference in the fight against climate change. If we all work together, we can make positive change.”
Fayetteville has demonstrated its commitment to sustainability through its Energy Action Plan, which includes a determination to achieve 50% community-wide clean energy by 2030 and 100% by 2050. The City also has developed progressive composting and recycling programs with the goal of achieving 40% total waste diversion from the landfill by 2027. Additionally, Fayetteville’s Active Transportation Plan calls for continued development of cycling and pedestrian routes throughout the community to help cut down on carbon emissions.
To reflect the level of ambition needed to achieve 1.5°C targets, the bar for entry to the A List has been raised. As a result, in 2021, less than one in ten cities scored by CDP (9.8% of such cities) received an A.
Fayetteville and the other 94 cities on this year’s A List are also celebrated for showing that urgent and impactful climate action - from ambitious emissions reduction targets to building resilience against climate change - is achievable at a global level, and in cities with different climate realities and priorities. However, this action needs to go further and faster to meet the new targets agreed at COP26.
Fortunately, a clear momentum in city climate disclosure and action is building—for the first time, over 1,000 cities are reporting their environmental impact through CDP in 2021. Meanwhile, 965 cities received a rating for their climate action from CDP in 2021, a substantial rise on the 591 cities scored in 2020.
The full 2021 A List of cities can be found here: https://www.cdp.net/en/cities/cities-scores.
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About CDP
CDP is a global non-profit that runs the world’s environmental disclosure system for companies, cities, states and regions. Founded in 2000 and working with more than 590 investors with over $110 trillion in assets, CDP pioneered using capital markets and corporate procurement to motivate companies to disclose their environmental impacts, and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, safeguard water resources and protect forests.
Over 14,000 organizations around the world disclosed data through CDP in 2021, including more than 13,000 companies worth over 64% of global market capitalization, and over 1,100 cities, states and regions. CDP is a founding member of the Science Based Targets initiative, We Mean Business Coalition, The Investor Agenda and the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative. Visit cdp.net or follow us @CDP to find out more.