Minneapolis has been ranked the 4th best city in the nation when it comes to building toward a clean-energy future. The annual rankings, released last week by the nonprofit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, scores 75 large cities across five key areas: local government operations, community-wide initiatives, buildings policies, energy and water policies and transportation policies.

Transportation and buildings policies accounted for 30 points each out of the total 100 possible points a city could earn. The scorecards aim to evaluate how city policies and programs save energy, encourage renewable energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Here's how Minneapolis scored in each category:

Total: 69

Local government operations: 6.5

Community-wide initiatives: 10.5

Buildings policies: 20

Energy and water utilities: 12

Transportation policies: 20 Boston retained its position, taking the top spot in the rankings with a score of 77.5. That includes 22.5 and 25.5 points in transportation and buildings policies, respectively. Here are the 10 top ranked large cities and their scores:

Boston — 77.5 San Francisco — 71.5 Seattle — 70 Minneapolis — 69 Washington, D.C. — 68 New York — 67 Los Angeles — 65.5 Denver — 64.5 Austin, Texas — 63 Portland, Oregon — 62.5 The authors highlighted Cincinnati, Hartford and Providence as cities to watch because the trio recently adopted key clean-energy policies and programs. And across the nation, the report said cities have ramped up clean-energy efforts. "Cities are making impressive clean-energy gains — taking big steps to waste less energy and encourage more renewable power," Senior Research Manager David Ribeiro, lead author of the report, said in a news release.

But more work must be done.

Most cities aren't expected to meet their community-wide climate goals at their current pace or are not yet tracking their progress. Cities around the globe account for two-thirds of the world's energy consumption and 70 percent of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, the report found.