The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy has ranked Phoenix the Number 1 big-city local government in the nation for energy efficiency. The Council lauded the city for achieving its 2015 goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in local government operations and then resetting its targets to be even more stringent.

The City of Phoenix shared the Number 1 ranking for local governments with Denver and New York. The overall energy efficiency ranking for Phoenix was 18th out of 51 large cities.

“When it comes to energy efficiency, the City of Phoenix leads by example. We don’t ask others to do what we aren’t willing to do ourselves,” said Mayor Greg Stanton. “So it was gratifying – but not surprising – to see our local government lead the nation in energy efficiency.”

Stanton added, “Our goal as a metropolitan area is to break into the top 10 and ultimately top this list in all categories in the coming years, and we are heading in the right direction.”