Cities hot on climate change

FOUR Australian cities have beaten nearly 600 rivals to make it to an A-list of the leading locations taking action against climate change.

Adelaide, Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney were named among 43 cities for taking action to cut emissions and set climate change strategies

Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney were among 14 cities around the world recognised.

Melbourne is singled out for setting a target of having net zero emissions by 2020, and Sydney is recognised for having the same target for 2050.

Canberra is one of only four A-listers to have a target to have all energy used in the city coming from renewables (the others being Paris, Minneapolis and San Francisco).

Canberra says it can do this by 2020.

Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, is the only city claiming to be already running 100 per cent on renewables.