The City of Cape Town is the only African city to make it onto the 2021 Carbon Disclosure Project’s (CDP) Cities A-List of best performing global cities for its climate change data, transparency and action.
The CDP annually scores cities from A to D based on their climate change response disclosure. The score indicates how effectively cities are managing, measuring and tackling greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate risks.
‘The City is proud to be one of only 95 international cities to have been awarded top marks. We can only take real action when we know what the situation is. By reporting climate data through the CDP each year, Cape Town is transparent about its climate action, tracking progress, monitoring risks and benchmarking against other cities facing similar challenges. The climate is changing and so must we. By changing the way we consume, produce, go about our daily lives and interact with and support one another, we can make our city and households more resilient to the changing climate and reduce the harmful actions that are causing climate change,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Energy and Climate Change, Councillor Beverley van Reenen.
How climate change is affecting Cape Town
Decreasing levels of average annual rainfall and changing seasonality of rainfall, which affects the amount of water to which we have access.
An increase in the average annual temperature and increased maximum temperatures, which means an increase in hotter days, and more frequent and intense heat waves.
An increase in the average wind and maximum wind strength.
Rising sea levels and increased coastal erosion.
What we need to do to tackle climate change
In support of the growing global momentum to tackle climate change, Cape Town, along with cities in South Africa and worldwide, has committed to working to achieve carbon neutrality and climate resilience by 2050. Importantly, reducing global warming is key. These necessary targets can only be reached through significant transitions in urban form, energy sources, transportation and resource efficiency.
What is carbon neutrality?
Carbon neutrality means introducing new technologies to clean up the fuels and activities that cause greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, while enhancing our social, economic and environmental goals. Read more about the City’s Carbon Neutral 2050 commitment.
What is the City doing?
We have committed to achieving the goal of carbon neutrality and climate resilience by 2050. This commitment is embedded in our new Climate Change Strategy that sets the pathway towards this goal. The City’s new Climate Change Action Plan details the actions required to fulfil this strategic vision.
The City has in place a range of programmes that support climate change adaptation, mitigation and climate resilience, and is working towards significantly growing these.
Adaptation
In the adaptation and resilience work area, projects include:
developing our water resilience
conserving our biodiversity and protecting coastal areas
enabling appropriate nodal development through the adoption of a coastal urban edge
Mitigation
To reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, our mitigation efforts include:
driving energy efficiency in our own municipal operations
shaping regulatory and incentive mechanisms to support net zero carbon buildings
developing our own clean energy generation
procuring energy from Independent Power Producers (IPPs)
enabling small scale embedded generation (SSEG)
waste reduction
building an efficient transport network
Source: City Of Cape Town