APEC Urban Energy Report 2023 - Driving Cities Through the Low Carbon Transition

Greenwashing has become a major issue of carbon neutrality requesting cities to keep higher reporting standards. Cities face a density challenge as renewables require large amounts of land. Cities face numerous other challenges, such as the lack of local environmental data as well as high disaster risks that negatively affect financial resources needed for carbon neutrality. The credit risk guarantee (CRG) is a financial instrument that is crucial for carbon neutrality. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) information as well as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) are two competing approaches to accounting and public information of cities. The GDP as a measure for value-added should be complemented by a Gross Holistic Product (GHP) containing, among others, information from the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting. Reporting frameworks of the Global Covenant of Mayors (GCoM) and CDP are described in detail. Three APEC case studies are presented in the report.