Mumbai becomes the first city in South Asia to top CDP’s climate action list.

• As Egypt hosted COP27, Mumbai has become the first Indian city to be added to the A-list in the 5th Annual Cities Report published by The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a non-profit organisation that runs the world’s environmental disclosure system for companies, cities, states, and regions – recognises the important role that cities play in taking bold actions to mitigate and adopt to climate change.
• The organisation says that Mumbai was able to attain despite the challenging global economic situation. 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 CDP-ICLEI Track.
• In fact, 122 cities across the globe have been named as leaders in environmental action and transparency in 2022 by CDP. For the first time, this includes cities from several countries in the Global South, including Mumbai; cities that are often among those most affected by the impacts of climate change.

India’s financial hub

• Mumbai is the most populous city in India, and, globally, the 7th largest in terms of population. Surrounded by the sea on three sides, Mumbai is separated from the mainland by Thane Creek and Harbour Bay. The city is vulnerable to climate change-induced hazards, such as sea level rise, heavy rainfall, storm surges, increasing heat, and tropical cyclones. It is also susceptible to landslides, due to heavy rain that causes many fatalities and physical damage each monsoon season.
• The city has recently released its first-ever Climate Action Plan in 2022, ‘Towards a Climate Resilient Mumbai’. It outlines the aims to reach net-zero carbon neutrality by 2050 – the most significant step taken in its climate journey thus far.
• The Climate Action Plan has laid down a 30-year roadmap for the city to tackle the challenges of climate change, by adopting inclusive and robust mitigation and adaptation strategies. The action plan sets short, medium, and long-term climate goals aimed at achieving zero emission of greenhouse gases or a net-zero target for 2050.
• Recent CDP data shows that 80 percent of cities face climate hazards, from drought to floods, which are expected to be more intense and frequent by 2025 for 25 percent of cities. Hence the need for strong climate action is urgent. A-List cities are demonstrating their climate leadership through concerted and effective action; just as national governments have been asked to do at COP27. They are taking more than three times as many mitigation and adaptation measures as non-A List cities.
• For the first time, over 1,000 cities (1,002 in total) received a rating for their climate action from CDP in, a rise on the 965 cities scored in 2021. In 2022, just over one in ten cities scored by CDP (12% of such cities) received an A. What is clear is that a momentum in city climate disclosure and action is gradually building up. In this context, Mumbai is setting an example in India by showing how emission reduction targets and adaptation plans can change the face of the city.
• Other cities from Global South that have also made it onto the A-List for the first time are: Lima (Peru), Quito (Ecuador) and Yaounde IVth Commune (Cameroon. The Middle East also sees its first A-List cities, including Amman (Jordan) and Kadikoy in (Turkey). Brazil, Chile, and the Philippines have returned to the cities A-List for the first time since 2020.