Hoboken receives top climate action score from environmental impact nonprofit CDP

The City of Hoboken received a top climate action score from environmental impact nonprofit CDP, officials announced this morning.

By John Heinis/Hudson County View

“Congratulations to the City of Hoboken for earning a spot on the CDP Cities A List — one of 49 cities and counties in North America to make the list in 2022,”  CDP North America Head of Cities, States, Regions and Public Authorities Katie Walsh said in a statement.

“From mitigating carbon emissions in line with science, to building resilience against floods, drought and other climate hazards, to centering marginalized and vulnerable communities in their response, A List local governments are demonstrating best-practice environmental action. Hoboken is in the vanguard of cities and counties leading the way toward a climate-safe future.”

Hoboken’s distinction was achieved by only 12 percent of the 1,002 participating cities and counties.

According to CDP, as an A List City, Hoboken has taken twice as many climate action mitigation and adaptation measures as non-A List local governments.

CDP’s Cities A List is based on environmental data disclosed by local governments to the CDP-ICLEI Track and is designed to encourage and support local governments to increase their action on climate change.

“There are few cities across the country that feel the impact of climate change more than Hoboken, which is why it’s critical we continue to do all that we can to mitigate its effects,” added Mayor Ravi Bhalla.

“I am honored that CDP ranked the City on its prestigious A List for climate action, and I thank our Department of Environmental Services and the residents of Hoboken for implementing the action items within our ambitious Climate Action Plan into their daily lives. I look forward to continuing our progress as we strive to be carbon neutral by 2050 and net-zero energy by 2030.”

Bhalla signed an executive order in 2019 establishing the city’s Climate Action Plan, which provides key action items to further the City’s goals to be carbon neutral by 2050 and net-zero energy by 2030.

Since then, Hoboken has taken steps to mitigate its contributions to climate change, which includes the phasing in of hybrid and electric vehicles to the city’s municipal fleet, reducing dependency on fossil fuels.

To date, the city has replaced 17 vehicles and will also purchase a new electric garbage truck and Hop shuttle bus utilizing $1.2 million in State funding awarded by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP).

Next year, the city will also increase its electric vehicle charging infrastructure to more than double the amount of publicly accessible charging ports.

Through a partnership with Volta, residents will have significantly greater access to electric charging infrastructure, to encourage more electric vehicle ownership.

In 2020, Hoboken became the first municipality in New Jersey to file a lawsuit against nearly a dozen fossil fuel-related companies for their decades-long campaign of misinformation that has directly contributed to the damaging effects of climate change.

The litigation comes at no expense to the city or its taxpayers: legal fees associated with the lawsuit are funded, in part, by the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development and, in part, through a contingency arrangement.