Freetown's CDP Disclosure Reveals Energy Emissions Drive 40% of City's Carbon Footprint

Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, used its first CDP-required emissions inventory to discover that energy consumption accounts for 40% of the city's total greenhouse gas emissions, primarily from wood and charcoal used for household cooking. The 1.215 million tonne CO2-equivalent inventory has since anchored Freetown's Climate Action Plan and integrated transportation, waste, and land-use interventions.

Freetown's participation in CDP reporting produced its first comprehensive emissions inventory, which identified total emissions of 1,215,130 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Energy-related emissions from household cooking using wood and charcoal were the dominant contributor at 40%, partially offsetting the environmental gains of the city's ambitious tree-planting campaign. The city has since launched targeted mitigation measures including a cable car system powered approximately 80% by renewable electricity, waste-to-energy systems in informal settlements, and the distribution of improved cookstoves and alternative fuels such as biogas and briquettes.

The emissions inventory has strengthened the connection between Freetown's Climate Action Plan and its TreeTown campaign, which has planted over one million trees and targets four million more by 2028. CDP disclosure has positioned Freetown as a regional leader in urban climate action, unlocking access to technical expertise, global networks, and funding opportunities. The city's experience demonstrates how standardised environmental reporting frameworks can transform data-poor municipalities into credible investment destinations, a lesson applicable to similarly positioned cities across South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Freetown's trajectory from baseline disclosure to integrated climate planning reflects a growing pattern among cities in emerging economies using CDP as an entry point to global climate finance. By quantifying emission sources and documenting project pipelines, the city has created a roadmap for prioritising interventions and attracting concessional finance. The case reinforces calls for national governments and development finance institutions to support municipal disclosure capacity as a prerequisite for urban climate investment, particularly in cities where household energy poverty and climate vulnerability overlap.

Key figure — 1,215,130 tonnes CO2 equivalent total emissions