Porto's climate action receives international recognition once again

05/06/2025

Porto was once again recognised as a leader in climate action, as already seen in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2024. The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) has once again awarded Porto an A rating, a classification achieved by only 15% of the approximately one thousand cities that have undergone this external assessment, which aims to ‘encourage and support cities in increasing their climate actions and ambitions’.

This year, Porto is amongst the 112 cities globally that have been rated as leaders in decarbonisation and adaptation to climate change. The cities of Guimarães, Lisbon and Matosinhos also received an A rating.

For Deputy Mayor Filipe Araújo, who is responsible for the Environment and Climate Transition, ‘this international and independent recognition demonstrates that Porto is well on its way to achieving neutrality by 2030, in line with the 2022 Porto Climate Pact, as well as preparing the city to prevent the effects of and respond to extreme climate events, such as intense rainfall and heatwaves’.

Appearing on the CDP A-list is a recognition of efforts in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and building resilience against the impacts of climate change.

In order to achieve the highest A rating, the municipalities must submit a city-wide emissions inventory. Furthermore, they must have a climate adaptation plan in place to demonstrate how they would tackle climate risks.

It should be noted that, amongst the various measures taken, the Municipality of Porto has implemented the Porto Climate Pact, with the full support of the President of the Republic. As a result of its commitment, the European Commission selected Porto as one of the 100 Smart Cities with Climate Neutral Impact by 2030 in 2022, recognising its journey towards a resilient and sustainable future. Porto is also involved with the Climate Change Adaptation Mission.

The 2030 Porto Municipal Climate Action Plan (PMAC), which sets out the main lines of action to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 and enhance climate resilience by adapting the city to extreme events, is accepting proposals until 16 June 2025, through the Citizen Portal .

Regarding the matter of adaptation, the document presents seven objectives: to increase the protection of natural risk areas and vulnerable areas, promote the adaptation of public and private buildings, enhance the resilience of public spaces, improve the efficiency of the urban water cycle, expand the efficiency of the city’s alert and emergency systems, improve the safety and health conditions of people, and disseminate climate literacy. With these objectives in mind, the Municipality of Porto plans to invest 450 million euros.

With an investment of more than 1.7 billion euros towards mitigation and decarbonisation, the plan anticipates 25 objectives within the areas of energy systems, mobility and transport, the environment, waste, the circular economy, green infrastructure and natural-based solutions.