The Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance (CNCA or "Alliance") is a group of major cities worldwide working together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% or more by 2050 or earlier. This goal, called "80×50," is the most ambitious plan for cutting emissions among cities globally. The Alliance studies how leading international cities can achieve these large reductions in emissions and how they can cooperate to reach their goals more quickly and successfully.
Background
The Alliance was formed in Copenhagen in June 2014 during a meeting attended by these 17 cities:
- Berlin, Germany
- Boulder, Colorado, USA
- Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- London, United Kingdom
- Melbourne, Australia
- Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
- New York City, New York, USA
- Oslo, Norway
- Portland, Oregon, USA
- San Francisco, California, USA
- Seattle, Washington, USA
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Sydney, Australia
- Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Washington, D.C., USA
- Yokohama, Japan
These founding cities worked together to share knowledge about planning and carrying out large reductions in carbon emissions. In the Alliance’s first year, they focused on these goals:
- Creating Carbon Neutrality Planning Standards – Developing methods, tools, and ways to measure progress toward reducing carbon emissions to zero.
- Making Major Improvements in Key City Areas – Sharing and using best practices to reduce carbon emissions in transportation, energy use, and waste systems.
- Supporting Changes in Rules and Laws – Identifying and promoting policies at local, regional, and national levels to reduce emissions not managed directly by cities.
- Working Together to Show Leadership – Helping cities in the Alliance speak as a group to highlight their efforts.
- Starting a CNCA Innovation Fund – Investing in city-led projects that test and expand strategies to reduce carbon emissions (currently funded with $500,000).
- Sharing Knowledge to Help More Cities – Spreading the Alliance’s lessons to other cities aiming for carbon neutrality.
Staff, partners and funding
The Alliance is managed by the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN) along with the Innovation Network for Communities (INC) and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40). It is supported by The Kresge Foundation, Barr Foundation, Summit Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and Bullitt Foundation.