Lakewood among cities named as climate action leaders
Published on November 16, 2023
Lakewood has been recognized as one of 119 cities across the globe providing leadership in environmental action and transparency by CDP, a nonprofit that runs the world’s environmental disclosure system for companies, cities, states and regions.
The city made the 2023 CDP Cities A List, which signifies that Lakewood is taking four times as many climate mitigation and adaption steps than cities that don’t make the list. The A List cities are demonstrating their climate leadership through concerted and effective action, and only 13 percent of the cities scored in 2023 received an A. It's an honor to be on the list alongside places such as Copenhagen, Denver, Paris, Vancouver, Sydney and more.
To score an A, a city must disclose publicly through the climate reporting platform CDP-ICLEI Track, have a citywide emissions inventory and publish a climate action plan. It must also complete a climate risk and vulnerability assessment and have a climate adaptation goal to demonstrate how it will tackle climate hazards.
Lakewood’s A list accomplishments include the following work by the Sustainability Division:
- Municipal Solar Feasibility Study: Lakewood completed a Solar Photovoltaic and Storage Feasibility Study in July 2022 to evaluate on-site renewable solar energy potential at nine different municipal sites. The goal of the study was to investigate opportunities to deploy ground, carport canopy, and roof-mounted solar arrays and backup battery generation. City staff is currently evaluating the recommended outcomes and researching funding opportunities to finance the projects. This is Lakewood’s most recent step in its effort to reduce emissions from municipal buildings, which are currently powered by 60 percent renewable electricity (up from 12 percent).
- Small business energy campaign: City staff coordinated free assessments and no cost LED lighting upgrades for local businesses. Staff completed 300 visits and identified more than 2 million kilowatt hour of savings ($180,000 in bill savings) in 2022 and 2023.
- Sustainable Development Standards & Greenhouse Gas Emissions Performance Standard: City Council adopted updates to the city’s sustainable development standards in 2022. These standards create more opportunities for new projects to achieve the community’s adopted vision and goals for greenhouse gas emissions, waste diversion and community benefits. The standards include a Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Program that directly reflects Lakewood’s science-based GHG emissions reduction targets by setting the maximum allowed annual emissions for a project, known as the performance standard. Projects can achieve these standards through mitigation measures such as all-electric buildings, solar energy systems, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and recycling/composting services.
- GHG Emissions inventory: Lakewood completed a 2021 GHG Inventory. Since 2007, overall citywide emissions have declined 15 percent.
About Lakewood
The fifth largest city in Colorado, Lakewood adopted its first Sustainability Plan in 2015 and has provided annual updates. Its Sustainability Division also developed the Sustainable Neighborhoods Program that has grown into a network as the program has been adopted by the cities of Denver, Fort Collins, Wheat Ridge and others.
Contact: Senior Sustainability Planner Jeff Wong, 303-987-7507, jefwon@lakewood.org.
About CDP
CDP is a global nonprofit that runs the world’s environmental disclosure system for companies, cities, states and regions. Founded in 2000 and working with more than 740 financial institutions with over $136 trillion in assets, CDP pioneered using capital markets and corporate procurement to motivate companies to disclose their environmental impacts, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, safeguard water resources and protect forests. More than 24,000 organizations and 1,100 cities, states and regions around the world disclosed data through CDP in 2023.