Alliance of Global Cities Marks Key Milestones in Achieving Carbon Neutrality Over Past Decade and into the Future
GLASGOW, Scotland, June 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance (CNCA), an alliance of leading global cities working collaboratively to achieve carbon neutrality in the next 10-20 years, marked its 10th anniversary at its annual meeting this week in Glasgow, Scotland. Among the participants were representatives from the 23 cities who make up CNCA's membership, which includes globally influential cities that have demonstrated deep carbon reductions and are vocal leaders and risk takers around climate sustainability.
"We are excited to mark a decade of bold climate action by our member cities on a mission to demonstrate pathways towards a climate-positive future that improves life in our urban areas, increasing well-being for people and restoring natural systems," noted Simone Mangili, executive director of CNCA. "Our member cities have a deep commitment to reaching carbon neutrality well ahead of national and international targets. They lead the field, opening up new policy areas and working across levels of government to tackle emissions far beyond those produced within city or even regional boundaries. By supporting innovation, creating a space for cities to spur new ideas, and elevating the most impactful approaches, CNCA is helping cities create vibrant, healthy and prosperous urban futures for decades to come."
CNCA was formed in 2015 when a cohort of vanguard cities came together around a commitment to cut emissions by 80 percent or more by 2050 or sooner. Having recently welcomed Incheon Metropolitan City, South Korea to the Alliance, CNCA has grown to 23 global cities at the leading edge of climate action. With its incorporation in Brussels, Belgium in 2024, CNCA's footprint is truly global, with strong partnerships across continents enabling far-reaching collaborations.
As many nations appear to waiver in their climate ambitions, or even scale back their climate commitments, the window for decisive action is rapidly narrowing. Working with its partners, CNCA continues to offer opportunities for its member cities to accelerate transformative climate action that puts people and nature first, demonstrating the role cities can play in delivering on national and global climate ambition. Many partners have supported CNCA's development over the past decade, and today these include: Barr Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, Laudes Foundation, McKnight Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, The Summit Foundation, and the V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation.
Over the past 10 years CNCA has funded a total of 76 awards for innovation projects, comprising an investment of more than $5M, which in turn has leveraged an additional $46M to support transformative climate action around the globe. In 2021 CNCA launched the Game Changer Fund to support the development, adoption and implementation of game-changing policies that aggressively shift the fundamental attributes of the systems that have caused intersecting climate, biodiversity and social crises. The Game Changer Fund empowers cities to take bold, collaborative action on climate by tackling high-impact projects that may not fit into traditional public funding streams.
CNCA has supported projects aimed at: pioneering the production and use of biochar both as a carbon sink and as an approach to climate adaptation and urban forestry; creating markets for carbon farming prioritizing indigenous and traditional land stewardship; decarbonizing urban food systems by shifting procurement, upskilling culinary workers and engaging small businesses to influence upstream value chains; establishing a scalable and consistent reuse chain for solar panels to prevent premature disposal of functional panels; promoting renewable energy access, social equity, and climate justice.
As CNCA members have made rapid progress towards their ambitious climate goals over the past 10 years, focus has shifted to the harder to reach sectors of economies, influencing change further up value streams and far beyond city boundaries - all the while ensuring that climate action is a force to improve people's lives and redress historic inequities. CNCA is currently supporting members in their efforts to work in genuine partnership with communities to craft climate action within a broader framework of planetary boundaries, prioritizing approaches that advance climate ambitions by regenerating natural systems and securing intergenerational livelihoods.
"The Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance is a hugely important ally in the fight against climate change," noted Susan Aitken, Council Leader of the Glasgow City Council. "The need to build on the broad consensus on the necessity of global climate action and to be honest about what's actually required to decarbonise has rarely been greater. Cities are at the forefront of the delivery of those practical actions that make a tangible difference to communities and citizens. Networks like CNCA are vital in nurturing that solidarity amongst peer cities and aligning our actions and ambitions. We are very proud to be members and to host the CNCA in Glasgow and look forward to the next 10 years."
Media Notes: To request an interview with Mr. Mangili or with a representative of a CNCA Member City, please contact Tim Kobussen at 262-408-8630 or timkobussen@carbonneutralcities.org.
About the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance (CNCA)
The Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance mobilizes transformative climate action in cities to achieve prosperity, social equity, resilience and better quality of life for all on a thriving planet. CNCA supports global leading cities in their goal to become carbon neutral as rapidly as possible by fostering collaboration, innovative approaches, and sharing lessons with other cities ready to pursue similar goals. CNCA member cities are globally influential, have demonstrated deep carbon reductions, and are vocal leaders and risk takers. What sets CNCA apart from other city networks is that it is the only member-driven, practitioner-led organization created by cities for cities. CNCA's core city representatives are the Sustainability and/or Climate Directors and leads in their cities. Cities seek the CNCA community because of the unique value created in pooling deep knowledge and expertise to drive transformative climate action. CNCA members advance and troubleshoot policy development collectively, share learnings and forge support networks, innovate together and build new capacity to take on emerging challenges. To learn more, visit us at carbonneutralcities.org.
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