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Page last updated on February 20, 2020 at 11:04 am

For more information, please contact

Lauren Travis

Assistant Director of Sustainability

Department of Economic and Sustainable Development

lauren.travis@bloomington.in.gov

812-349-3837

City of Bloomington Recognized As One of 105 Cities Leading Climate and Sustainability Action Worldwide

Bloomington, Ind. - Bloomington has been recognized as a global leader on environmental action and transparency, achieving a place on CDP’s Cities A List.  A global nonprofit that runs an environmental disclosure system for businesses and cities, CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) announced Monday night that it had named 105 cities around the world to its A List.  Of the 850 cities that reported sustainability and climate data to CDP, only 12% made it onto the 2019 A List.  Bloomington is one of only seven cities in the Midwest to receive an A score, along with Indianapolis, Evanston, Ann Arbor, Cleveland, Columbus (Ohio), and Cincinnati. The full Cities A List is published here.

Bloomington is a new arrival at the A (Leadership) level, bringing its score up from a C (Awareness) level in 2018.  In order to score an A, a city must have a city-wide emissions inventory, have set an emissions reduction target, have published a climate action plan and have completed a climate adaptation plan to demonstrate how it will tackle climate hazards now and in the future. 

Bloomington has been recognized for its actions in the last reporting year to develop robust climate change strategies, track and act to limit and reduce emissions, assess and mitigate climate risks, and transparently report this information in its 2019 disclosure to CDP. Bloomington will complete a 2020 climate vulnerability assessment by the end of this year, another key climate action.  The Sustainability Action Plan captures the City’s sustainability vision and goals related to transportation, waste, local food, energy, ecosystem health, the built environment, and more. 

“In the face of climate change, action is imperative and must be collective,” said Mayor John Hamilton, “Although Bloomington is a relatively small city, this recognition places our efforts toward emissions reduction in the company of cities around the world working toward the same goals.  We encourage other cities and companies in the Midwest and beyond to join in this effort to protect our environment and promote a sustainable way of life for all.” 

Last year, 43 cities were recognized for their environmental leadership and transparency, compared to 105 this year – 65% of which, including Bloomington, are new to the Leadership Level. A List cities are taking on average more than double the number of actions to adapt to climate change, and five times as many mitigation actions compared to other cities scored.  This year, CDP is embarking on its 10th annual disclosure cycle for cities. 2011 marked the first, with 48 cities disclosing their climate data compared to over 850 in 2019. 

“Congratulations to Bloomington,” said Katie Walsh, Head of Cities, States, and Regions for CDP North America. “It’s exciting to see the U.S. and Canada leading with the most A List Cities this year — 34 and 7 respectively. They are demonstrating how municipal governments can safeguard citizens in the face of our new environmental reality and build a climate-safe future. We look forward to seeing other cities follow the lead of Bloomington and other cities on our A List.” 

 

About CDP

CDP is a global nonprofit that drives companies, cities, and governments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, safeguard water resources and protect forests. Over 8,400 companies with over 50% of global market capitalization disclosed environmental data through CDP in 2019. This is in addition to the over 920 cities, states and regions that disclosed, making CDP’s platform one of the richest sources of information globally on how companies and governments are driving environmental change. CDP, formerly Carbon Disclosure Project, is a founding member of the We Mean Business Coalition. Visit https://cdp.net/en/cities or follow us @CDP to find out more.