Mexico City Leads in Global Climate Action: SEDEMA

Mexico City was recognized as a global leader in environmental action and transparency in 2023 by the international organization Disclosure Insight Action (CDP). Other Latin American cities including Guadalajara, Bogota, Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo were also granted the distinction. 

Mexico City’s Minister of Environment (SEDEMA) announced that the city had earned a spot on CDP's prestigious “A List” for the second year in a row. This recognition places Mexico City alongside 118 other cities worldwide that have demonstrated exceptional commitment to environmental initiatives and transparency. “The cities, many of which are returning to the ‘A List’, show that action to tackle climate change is becoming mainstream for many of the world’s urban areas,” reads an official CDP statement. 

CDP is a non-profit organization that runs the global disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts. This year CDP evaluated over 939 cities through CDP-ICLEI, the world’s leading climate reporting platform and progress accountability mechanism for cities, as reported by the organization. 

According to CDP, there is a growing number of cities that are consistently receiving an “A score.” This year, Latin America showed a strong environmental performance on the rating, which included cities from Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia. Regarding Mexico city, SEDEMA emphasized that CDP acknowledges the efforts of the capital’s government in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and in devising strategies and projects that mitigate the city's susceptibility to the impacts of climate change. 

According to SEDEMA’s annual report on Mexico City’s Environmental and Climate Change Program for 2019-2024 (PACC), significant progress (98.57%) has been made towards the established goal of reducing GHG emissions by 2024. The program’s target is to reduce GHG emissions by 10%, based on the levels recorded in 2016. To date, the program has achieved to mitigate 2.17Mt of GHG annually, which is equivalent to the reforestation and care of 5,520,988 pine trees over a span of 50 years. Additionally, The Metropolitan Region of Guadalajara was also included in the A list. CDP highlighted the city’s pioneering fleet of 38 fully electric buses, marking the first all-electric route for transport units in Mexico. 

At the global scale, Europe is the region with the largest representation on the 2023 A List, with 48 cities. North America has the next highest number with 42, followed by Latin America with 11, Asia with 8, Oceania with 6, the Middle East with 3, and Africa with 1. Meanwhile, the United States is the country that gathers the most A List cities in its territory, totalling 35. 

CDP underscored that A List cities report taking four times as many mitigation and adaptation measures as non-A List cities. Furthermore, the organization's analysis reveals that in certain A List cities, such as San Francisco with 84%, Quito with 86%, and Trondheim with 91%, renewable sources account for the majority of their energy consumption. 

Maia Kutner, Director of Cities, States and Regions, CPD stressed that despite the world experiencing the full impact of climate disasters, such as heatwaves and floods, it is encouraging that many cities are taking proactive measures to address climate change through tangible actions. “Today, we are delighted to celebrate the 119 cities, from Lima to London, whose effective action makes them global climate leaders …This is no time for complacency, though. Cities not reporting environmental data must step up their transparency, while many more need to accelerate their efforts to reach net-zero and create a more sustainable future for all, especially the most vulnerable,” Kutner said. 

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