Bridging the Sustainable Infrastructure Gap: Environmental Disclosure Data

By Taarika Peres

Photo: CSTAR team brainstorming activity

My interest in climate policy and the energy transition was sparked by the Energy, Entrepreneurship, and Finance course at Fletcher. This course introduced me to energy markets and emphasized the significance of building resilient, reliable, and affordable energy infrastructure. In my first year at Fletcher, I gained a comprehensive overview of the energy and climate policy landscape through coursework, a Fletcher Social Investment Group (FSIG) advisory project for the Tufts Investment Office focused on climate technology, and my summer internship at CDP (formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project).

CDP is a leader in global environmental disclosures, encouraging the voluntary disclosure of climate, forest, and water data from corporations, cities, states, regions, and public authorities. This past summer, I served as a Sustainable Infrastructure Fellow with the Cities, States, and Regions (CSTAR) team at CDP, based in their New York office. My internship commenced in June 2023 with the annual CDP US Workshop in New York, focused on the energy transition and drawing participation from a diverse group of experts, spanning those in environmental disclosure, non-profits, financial services, and corporations. I also had the opportunity to join CDP’s annual team days, which involved exciting team building and ice-breaker activities on an old barge in Brooklyn to get to know the CSTAR team. This marked an exciting start to my next 10 weeks at CDP.

Photo: With the CSTAR team during CDP team days

My internship experience was incredibly rewarding. I focused on the cleaning and analysis of climate data obtained from cities through CDP's annual climate questionnaire with the aim of identifying opportunities and gaps in mitigation and adaptation infrastructure projects. These trends and insights were crucial in assisting cities in addressing their financing and technical assistance needs for sustainable infrastructure projects across transportation, renewable energy, energy efficiency, and waste and water management.

This data also uncovered possible reasons for the inability of cities to implement climate solutions, including negligible access to climate finance, a lack of technical assistance/trained human resources, and insufficient (or a lack thereof) climate-forward policies. My data analysis efforts contributed to CDP’s annual Infrastructure Snapshot for 2023: Accelerating Climate Finance in Cities. The report incorporates information from over 1000 cities globally that was disclosed through CDP, revealing a total funding gap worth $65 billion for sustainable infrastructure projects across these cities.

Photo: With my fellow co-workers, Idan and Naina

I also received the opportunity to engage with municipalities and cities to encourage higher-quality climate disclosure, draft briefs for global climate weeks, and support webinar preparation focused on cities accessing funds via the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

My key learnings from this internship include: 1) a deeper understanding of the environmental disclosure system; 2) recognizing the role of cities in combating climate change; and 3) understanding that the availability of financing doesn’t necessarily guarantee adequate and appropriate utilization.

During my time at CDP, I gained not only practical experience and a deep understanding of climate data insights but also the opportunity to cultivate friendships, connect with exceptional mentors (many of whom are Fletcher alumni), and build a network that will endure the test of time.

The way forward: I am currently in my last semester at Fletcher, working part-time for the World Bank on a green industrialization technical assistance project in Ethiopia, aimed at enhancing Ethiopia’s green competitiveness in key priority sectors. As I embark on the next phase of opportunities post-Fletcher, I will continue to focus on climate finance for developing countries and addressing the risks associated with climate change.

Taarika Peres is a MALD student at The Fletcher School, Tufts University.