Easton earns A- for environmental leadership, transparency from global nonprofit

EASTON, Pa. — The city has earned an A- for sustainability and climate action planning from a global nonprofit focused on environmental disclosures and transparency.

CDP, formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project, announced the scores Thursday. It’s the highest grade the city has received from CDP since officials started reporting in 2018.

Nurture Nature Center Science Director Kathryn A. Semmens, who helps the city with annual reporting, said alongside the score came a feeling of hope and motivation.

“You're doing all this work, and sometimes you question if it’s getting you anywhere,” Semmens said.

“And so, getting positive feedback, and being able to see — we made these changes, we put the effort in and it has a positive response — that's really helpful.

"Especially in something like this, which is a long-term problem and it's going to require long term actions and planning.

“It's really, I think, hard to maintain that motivation and hope that we're going to reach our goals, but this really helps with that motivation.”

‘The frontline of the climate crisis’

CDP’s annual scores are based on a city’s climate mitigation activities, plans and goals, as well as what actions officials take to reduce emissions and implement plans.

There were 112 cities, as well as two states and regions on CDP’s 2024 A List.

“Cities are on the frontline of the climate crisis and are uniquely positioned to drive the Earth-positive decisions needed to balance people, planet and prosperity,” Hanah Paik, CDP global director for cities, states and regions, said in a news release.

“The cities, states and regions on CDP’s 2024 A List are setting the global benchmark for environmental leadership.

“Through robust disclosure and decisive action, they are ensuring that essential data is surfaced for informed decision-making across governments, markets and communities — and for unlocking access to the climate finance needed for implementation."

Bethlehem also received an A-, city Sustainability Coordinator Sarah DeGrendel said.

Allentown officials did not have capacity to report last year and did not receive a score, Veronika Vostinak, the city’s sustainability coordinator, said.

‘Catapulted Easton forward’

Easton started reporting to CDP after officials in 2016 signed on to the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, which includes a commitment to take action on sustainability and climate action planning.

Over the past few years, Easton officials have published greenhouse gas inventories, a climate vulnerability assessment report and a climate action plan, which has been updated with an adaptation plan.

The city has also adopted a greenhouse gas emissions reduction target, Semmens said. It was originally set at 80% by 2050, but that was recently updated to be net zero by 2050, a science-backed target.

The work has paid off — the score has risen significantly from when reporting first started.

“We started off with a D and, over time, doing all of those different activities and creating those plans, and then really more recently, having a more targeted approach to updating the emissions target and getting the climate action plan adopted along with an adaptation plan, and critically, getting Brandon in the sustainability coordinator position — that all really kind of catapulted Easton forward,” Semmens said.

Brandon Sullivan, who was hired earlier this year as the city’s first sustainability coordinator, said his goal is to be an A-list city.

“Reporting like this not only gives us that good feedback and the pat on the back, but also provides us, or at least me, with a gateway forward, a path towards a brighter, more sustainable city,” Sullivan said.

By using an independent organization for scoring, officials can compare their work to other cities and help generate ideas for additional projects.

“Even in my short time here, looking at different grading systems and looking at how different third party organizations, provide grades and sheets of recommendations, they've already given me a good idea of what actions I can take in the more immediate, what short term and medium and long term actions I can help implement here in the city of Easton I may not have thought of otherwise,” he said.