The Cities100 Report: Our Climate Action Projects

As part of NYC’s Water Demand Management Program, timers have been installed on spray showers at City playgrounds to reduce water consumption, ensuring the showers are activated only when in use.

We recently joined Mayor Bill de Blasio and other City agency commissioners to announce unprecedented global recognition for nine innovative climate action projects in New York City, including two of our signature programs. These projects demonstrate the power and leadership of cities in confronting our climate crisis. The Cities100 report showcases bold climate initiatives from 100 of the most forward-thinking projects worldwide. Cities featured demonstrate that they can deliver on the highest goals of the Paris Agreement and drive toward solutions to global warming, even with the lack of federal leadership. New York City had nine projects included in the report, more than any other city in the world. Our highlighted programs are:

• NYC’s Water Demand Management Program: One of the most robust conservation programs in the nation, has achieved savings more than 10 million gallons of water per day since 2013. By 2023, NYC plans to achieve a total savings of 20 million gallons per day, ensuring that both water and energy resources are optimized and conserved in the face of climate change and population growth.
• The Citizen Complaint Idling Program: Enacted by the City Council and signed by Mayor de Blasio in 2018, is a first of its kind program to empower citizens to not only report prohibited idling, but receive compensation for their efforts. This program helps to reduce both local air pollutants and greenhouse gasses emitted in New York.

The Cities100 report, now in its fourth year, is a collaboration among Realdania, C40, and Nordic Sustainability to find and showcase 100 of the most ambitious climate action projects in the world. In the pursuit to identify the most innovative projects, Nordic Sustainability and C40 launched a campaign for applications in the spring of 2019. The campaign brought in 195 project submissions. The applications then went through a process of vetting and evaluation by Nordic Sustainability and a team of experts from C40. The Cities100 report was launched online on October 2, and can be viewed at cities100report.com.