Boston has once again been ranked the most energy-efficient city in the United States, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy said Thursday.
The council’s 2019 City Clean Energy Scorecard ranked 75 large American cities on how effective their energy policies are. Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Washington ranked in the top five, while Oklahoma City and Tulsa came in last, the organization said. No other city has held the top spot since the council began its rankings.
“I’m proud of Boston for leading the rankings once again and am inspired by other cities for their bold action,” Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh said in a statement. “Through our work here in Boston, we’ve already surpassed our municipal climate goals and reduced emissions by 37 percent. If we’re to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, we have to accelerate our actions and lead by example.”
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The city scored top marks for energy efficient building policies and energy efficiency outreach and programs, according to the rankings.
Boston decreased its emissions by 21 percent between 2005 and 2017, the mayor’s office said in a statement.
Boston’s citywide energy initiative, Renew Boston, uses money saved from energy bills in city-owned buildings to fund more sustainability projects, Walsh’s office said. The city is also working to implement community choice energy, which would allow neighborhoods to choose their energy provider and the prices they pay. Boston also received about $2.5 million from Bloomberg Philanthropies in October to fund sustainability efforts.
The report named Cincinnati, Hartford, and Providence as cities to watch because all three recently enacted new clean energy policies.
However, the organization warned that there is still much to be done.
“Cities are making impressive clean energy gains — taking big steps to waste less energy and encourage more renewable power. But they have more to do,” said David Ribeiro, a senior research manager at the council.
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“Overall, we found that cities across the country are ramping up their clean energy efforts but most are not yet on track to meet their community-wide climate goals,” the council said in a statement.
Alyssa Lukpat can be reached at alyssa.lukpat@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @AlyssaLukpat.