Last time I wrote about documentaries on Sustainability. Today I am writing about which cities are considered to be more sustainable.
The three sub-indices each city was measured on can be further broken down into the following indicators:
1) Profit – business performance, transport infrastructure, ease of doing business, the city’s importance in global economic networks, property and living costs, GDP per capita and energy efficiency.
2) People – transport infrastructure, health, education, income inequality, work-life balance, the dependency ratio and green spaces.
3) Planet – energy consumption and renewable energy share, recycling rates, greenhouse gas emissions, natural catastrophe risk, drinking water, sanitation and air pollution.
Here it goes:
1) Frankfurt, Germany: Through continuous effort over the years, Frankfurt has truly deserved to be called a ‘Green City’. It has been cutting its carbon emissions by 10% for every five years and it is expected that it will show a 50% cut in its carbon emissions by 2030. Using green waste and waster timber, the Frankfurt-Fechenheim biomass power station delivers electricity for around 20,000 households along with heat for industry and commerce (source: frankfurt-greencity.de).
2) London, United Kingdom: London has been actively seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase green spaces for many years. Under the Climate Change Action Plan by Mayor Livingstone, the city will switch 25% of its power to locally-generated and better-efficient sources by 2025.
3) Copenhagen, Denmark: Copenhagen is known for its environmental policies and planning. They intend to be carbon neutral by 2015. It also has the largest wind turbine industries in the world and generates a substantial amount of wind energy, out of which around 20% is used by the country itself.
4) Amsterdam, Netherlands: Amsterdam has pledged to reduce its carbon emissions by 40% till 2025, as compared to the 1990 figure. Amsterdam is working towards a sustainable future by focusing on energy savings, increasing sustainability and efficient use of fossil energy, and maximizing the use of sustainable energy.
5) Rotterdam, Netherlands: At present, there exists a total of 200 MW installed wind turbine capacity in the port of Rotterdam. This represents around 10% of the overall wind energy produced in the country (source: portofrotterdam.com). Moreover, the city is showing strong efforts in the sector of bio and solar energy.
6) Berlin, Germany: Berlin’s Environmental Zone in the city’s core only allows vehicles that meet specific emission standards. Furthermore, the city and its surroundings boast the highest density of environmental technology companies, clean technology workers, and research institutions in the country (source: Berlin Business Location Center).
7) Seoul, South Korea: The private and public energy sectors in Seoul are actively participating in several projects to boost their energy production from renewable sources. To support the One Less Nuclear Power Initiative, the government in Seoul is encouraging private investment in solar PV generation by renting unused public facilities. In addition to this, the city government has also signed agreements with companies and civic firms to build additional solar PV power stations that will feature an output of 250 MW.
8) Hong Kong, China: Wind and solar energy, in particular show much growth potential in Hong Kong. In 2000, a study commissioned by the department of Electrical and Mechanical Services states that solar power, wind energy, and energy from waste have the potential for wider use in the city. Currently, there are projects that are moving towards the development of renewable energy use and enhancing its effectiveness.
9) Madrid, Spain: Even though with economic difficulties and decline of renewable energy, Madrid in still among top 10 sustainable cities.
10) Singapore, Singapore: In the first half of 2014, the total grid-installed capacity of PV systems in Singapore crossed the 14.6 MWac mark and spread over 468 installations across the island (source: ema.gov.sg). In March 2015, REC from Singapore, a leading global provider of solar power solutions along with PLE announced a strategic partnership to deliver a new hybrid solution that will encourage consumers to adopt solar power
I invite you to check this video:
The cities at the bottom are:
Rio de Janeiro
Doha
Moscow
Jeddah
Riyadh
Jakarta
Manila
Mumbai
Wuhan
New Delhi
Source: Nation Geographic, Altenergy Mag.
