The 2019 City Clean Energy Scorecard by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) ranks 75 U.S. cities on their progress in policy and programs that save energy, promote renewable energy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Five policy areas were scored including: local government operations, community-wide initiatives, buildings, energy and water utilities, and transportation. Among the top ranked cities, stringent building energy codes and investment in improved transportation in all parts of the city, including low income areas, resulted in the largest energy saving payoffs.
The top five cities are Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Washington. They excelled in stringent building energy codes, benchmarking, building and transportation policies, energy and water utilities. Milwaukee, WI is ranked 44th.
Some of the findings are that there is uneven progress toward and measurement of community-wide climate goals. Cities are beginning to increase engagement and make clean energy investments for low-income communities and communities of color. There is increased focus on reducing energy consumption in new and existing buildings. Efforts to reduce transportation emissions increased as well. There was wide disparity between leading cities and those at lower rankings. Forbes, energymanagertoday