The CDP, a non-profit organization that helps other entities and regions understand and manage their environmental impacts, also ranks and scores global companies and cities through its “CDP Scores” and “A-Lists.” Yokohama, Japan was included in the recently-published 2021 ranking as an A-List City for its efforts in climate and environmental impact reduction. 2021 marks the fourth time the CDP has published its A-List ranking.

Out of the total 965 cities worldwide that were ranked by the CDP in 2021, only 95—approximately 10% were chosen as A-List cities. The A-List of cities includes cities across the globe such as London, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Sydney, etc., and Japanese municipalities such as Yokohama City, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and Kyoto City. Yokohama was first named as an A-List city in the previous ranking in 2019, and retained this rank in 2021.

To be listed as an A-List city, the CDP indicates that a city must “disclose publicly and have a city-wide emissions inventory, have set an emissions reduction target and a renewable energy target for the future; and have published a climate action plan. An A-List city must also complete a climate risk and vulnerability assessment and have a climate adaptation plan to demonstrate how it will tackle climate hazards. And it must be making progress towards achieving its ambitious but realistic goals.”

The CDP is an international non-profit organization that operates environmental information disclosure systems for companies and local governments around the world. CDP requests information disclosure for environmental issues such as climate change countermeasures, water resource protection, and forest conservation, and conducts surveys and analysis. During the 2020 fiscal year, a total of 9,617 companies worldwide responded to CDP surveys. 590 investors with over US$110 trillion in assets and 200+ large purchasers with over US$5.5 trillion in procurement spend work with the CDP to make investments in companies and cities based on the findings of the CDP’s data and analysis.

In 2021, for the first time more than 1,000 local governments in the world disclosed environmental information through the “CDP-ICLEI Unified Reporting System.” 189 of these were Japanese municipalities, with Japan leading the world in environmental information disclosure.

Despite facing the difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic shared by many local governments internationally, the City of Yokohama has continued its ambitious and advanced environmental efforts, and its listing as an A-List city recognizes the city’s planning, activities, and progress toward achieving its goals in mitigation (reduction of greenhouse gas emissions) and adaptation (responding to the impacts of climate change).

Cities A List 2021: https://www.cdp.net/en/cities/cities-scores

Read more about Yokohama’s environmental efforts