The International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) is proud to welcome CDP to the prestigious network of partners for the AIPH World Green City Awards and to announce their collaboration with CDP to showcase city-led action for nature and climate.
Acknowledging that we can’t manage what we don’t measure, both AIPH and CDP believe that high-quality information on environmental risk, impact and opportunity is the fundamental basis for action. Now is the time, like never before, for cities to demonstrate that collective local action leads to global impact. Cities can, and must, act urgently to address the impacts of climate change and reverse the loss of nature. That starts by being aware of our impact so that cities can make the right choices now to secure a sustainable urban future.
Over the past 20 years, CDP has created a global disclosure system to help investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts, resulting in unparalleled engagement on environmental issues worldwide. CDP’s network of cities is leading the way on ambitious climate action. With over 1,100 cities reporting their urban sustainability accomplishments, CDP-ICLEI Track is the world’s leading climate reporting platform and progress accountability mechanism for cities, helping them report their environmental activities, track progress, understand their impact and take action. With the richest and most comprehensive dataset on corporate and city action, the world looks to CDP as the gold standard of environmental reporting.
Similarly, AIPH is the world’s champion for the power of plants and leads global thinking on the integration of plants and nature in the built environment. The AIPH World Green City Awards are recognised as the only global awards for cities where plants and nature are the core focus, thereby providing a leading platform for cities to showcase their green ambitions and urban nature-based actions to the world.
The critical role of plants and nature in driving and accelerating climate adaptation actions is increasingly recognised and being incorporated into city action. Through this exciting partnership, AIPH will join the growing network of partners advising CDP on the area of nature, to evaluate how cities can track how they are leveraging nature in their climate strategies. In turn, CDP will support AIPH in promoting and strengthening the AIPH World Green City Awards as a mechanism for further enabling a strategic nature-oriented shift in city governance and planning.
“CDP is an obvious partner for AIPH, and one who we are very excited to be joining forces with,” said Tim Briercliffe, Secretary General of AIPH. “Our shared aspiration for a greener, healthier, and more sustainable urban future provides a solid foundation on which we hope to build the capacity to drive transformative change at the local level. By collaborating with CDP, we aim to see many more cities from around the world become champions for plants, nature, and climate.”
The AIPH World Green City Awards seek to recognise public initiatives relying on a greater use of plants and nature to create better city environments – helping to fulfil local aspirations for improved economic, social and environmental resilience. The awards celebrate innovation, achievement, and commitment to the globally recognised imperative to embrace nature-orientated solutions that harvest the power of plants and associated ecosystems services to help address the major challenges facing cities, including those associated with climate change.
Maia Kutner, CDP Global Director for Cities, States and Regions, said: “CDP is delighted to partner with AIPH, as the world and its cities strive to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5°C. As home to over half the world’s population and responsible for 70% of global emissions, cities have a critical role to play in tackling climate change. We look forward to our partnership blossoming, and to ensuring cities’ data can help create a more sustainable, equitable and nature-positive world.”
The global nature and climate crises are two sides of the same coin and cannot be addressed separately. The AIPH-CDP partnership positions the AIPH World Green City Awards as a global platform for cities in the CDP network to showcase how they are harnessing the power of plants and nature as an extension of their leading commitments to climate change action disclosure and reporting on the CDP platform.
Leveraging each partner’s individual strengths, AIPH and CDP are jointly committed to meaningful collaboration in pursuit of their common goal of celebrating city-led action for both nature and climate. Unified by their shared vision for greener and more climate resilient cities, AIPH and CDP warmly invite all cities to start reporting on their climate actions and enter the AIPH World Green City Awards 2024, which is open for entries until 15th September 2023. To stay informed of upcoming news and announcements, AIPH invites you to subscribe to the monthly AIPH Global Green City Update and join the AIPH Global Green City Forum.
