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The 2021 City Clean Energy Scorecard

The sixth ACEEE City Clean Energy Scorecard measures the progress of city policies and programs that reduce greenhouse gas emissions by advancing energy efficiency and moving toward a cleaner elect…

The sixth ACEEE City Clean Energy Scorecard measures the progress of city policies and programs that reduce greenhouse gas emissions by advancing energy efficiency and moving toward a cleaner electric grid and fuels while also prioritizing equity in development and delivery. We rank 100 large U.S. cities on their clean energy efforts across 5 policy areas: local government operations, community-wide initiatives, buildings, energy and water utilities, and transportation. In this year’s results, San Francisco earns the top spot in the rankings for the first time. Joining San Francisco at the top are Seattle and Washington, DC as the second- and third highest-ranked cities, respectively. Madison, Charlotte, and Honolulu are the most improved since the 2020 City Scorecard. Overall, we found that many cities continue to ramp up their clean energy efforts, but all cities would improve their scores by increasing their commitment to racial and social equity, adopting more mandatory policies to improve the energy performance of existing buildings, and adopting and tracking progress toward stringent community-wide energy savings and transportation sector goals.

 

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