City's CDP score for environmental performance and disclosure rises to A-

News Release from City and County of Honolulu, Jan 23, 2024

HONOLULU – The City and County of Honolulu received high marks from CDP in their annual scorecard for environmental leadership, charting an “A-” grade for performance and disclosure in 2023 — an improvement on the City’s “B” score in 2022, and a significant jump from the “C” score that was awarded in 2019.

The CDP scorecard is produced through a partnership between the international non-profit CDP (formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project) and the international non-governmental organization Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI). To receive a score, the City’s Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency participates in CDP’s annual reporting and disclosure process, which is designed to incentivize jurisdictions towards becoming leaders on environmental transparency and action.

(CLUE: That which can be disclosed, can be priced.)

CDP’s methodology includes evaluations of the City’s assessments of its climate risks, documented plans for adapting to risks and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and actions taken to equitably achieve climate change mitigation and adaptation targets.

The City’s upgrade to an “A-” score in 2023 was in large part the result of the implementation of portions of the City’s comprehensive Climate Action Plan, which was adopted in 2021, and the development of the City’s first-ever climate adaptation strategy, Climate Ready O‘ahu, which is set to be formally adopted by the Honolulu City Council early this year.

“Receiving a CDP score of ‘A-’ positions us right on the cusp of joining the 119 cities considered world leaders in setting and meeting ambitious climate resiliency goals, as published by the CDP ‘A List,’” said Matthew Gonser, executive director and chief resilience officer of the Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency. “By participating in this scorecard, we are able to benchmark our performance against other municipalities and identify areas for learning and continued improvement, and furthering needed work to keep O‘ahu safe and prosperous in the face of climate change.”

To achieve an “A” score, the City will need to align its GHG emission reductions with nationally determined emissions reduction goals that were established to meet the terms of the Paris Climate Agreement. The City was recently awarded $1 million in grant funding from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) program, which the City will use to update the Climate Action Plan and continue to advance community equity through climate action.

This update will include an evaluation of the City’s emissions reduction targets through 2030 to keep the City on track towards a net-negative carbon economy by no later than 2045.

To learn more about the CDP scorecard, visit www.cdp.net/en/cities/cities-scores.

The City and County of Honolulu additionally evaluates its own performance in meeting established sustainability targets via the Annual Sustainability Report, published annually in April.

—PAU—