Tampere at the forefront of climate action: second time on the international A-list

The city of Tampere was recognised by CDP along with 118 other cities around the world. The cities are taking bold leadership on environmental action and transparency, despite the pressures of a challenging global economic situation. This year three Finnish cities made the list: Turku and Vantaa, in addition to Tampere.

The CDP Cities A-List aims to encourage and support cities to take ambitious climate action. The assessment is based on the environmental data published by cities on the CDP-ICLEI platform. There is a clear upswing in the publication of cities' climate data and climate action - more than 900 cities (939) received a rating from CDP this year for their climate action. Just over one in ten cities (13%) received an A rating.

Tampere is particularly well known for its climate leadership

Tampere has publicly reported to the CDP on its city-wide emissions inventory and the Carbon Neutral Tampere 2030 roadmap. The Roadmap is the city's plan for climate change mitigation and adaptation. The City of Tampere has also assessed local climate risks and identified the most vulnerable groups of people, environments and livelihoods.

Tampere is particularly known for its climate governance methods, such as the Carbon Neutral Tampere 2030 Roadmap, Climate Watch and Climate Budget. Tampere was also selected as one of the EU Commission's 100 Carbon Neutral and Smart Cities.  

Energy and climate expert Elina Seppänen says, "We are constantly working to coordinate these efforts," adding that Tampere has taken many concrete measures, both small and very large, to reduce climate emissions, such as the tramway and the construction of the Naistenlahti biopower plant to replace peat combustion. This year, carbon dioxide emissions are already estimated to have halved since 1990.

CDP also celebrates Tampere and the 118 other cities on this year's A list for proving that ambitious targets for reducing CO2 emissions are possible both globally and across cities with different climate change and climate change priorities. However, this action needs to go further and faster.

"Tampere's active work for the climate and for people will continue. The Roadmap will be updated again in 2024 in close cooperation between the different activities. The role of the city's residents and Tampere businesses in the work is becoming increasingly important," says Deputy Mayor Pekka Salmi.

Carbon Disclosure Project 

CDP is a global non-profit 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, and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, safeguard water resources and protect forests.    

Over 24,000 organizations around the world disclosed data through CDP in 2023 - including listed companies worth two thirds of global market capitalization - and over 1,100 cities, states and regions.