Green City Index
Entry No | ECOWISE - 2 |
Strategic area(s) | Air Pollution and Decarbonisation Data Management GDE&I (Gender, diversity, equality and inclusion) |
Name of partner | EcoWise (Hyunji Cho) |
Resource / link | The Green City Index: https://assets.new.siemens.com/siemens/assets/api/uuid:cf26889b-3254-4dcb-bc50-fef7e99cb3c7/gci-report-summary.pdf |
Location, Description of intervention/project | 120 cities including all continents. The series began in 2009 and covers more than 120 cities in Europe, Latin America, Asia, North America and Africa. Seven cities in Australia and New Zealand will be included in late 2012. Cities were selected for their size and importance (mainly capital cities and large population or business centres). |
Geographical scale of the project | Worldwide but city focused analysis |
Background information | More than half of the world’s people now live in cities and the figure will rise to more than two thirds by 2050, according to United Nations forecasts. North and South America are the most urbanised regions, with slightly over 80% of residents on both continents residing in cities. Europe is not far behind at just over 70%. The share in Asia and Africa is about 40%, however, both continents are undergoing an unprecedented migration to cities from the countryside. In Africa, for example, the number of city residents is expected to more than double from over 412 million today to 870 million by 2035. Urbanisation has enormous environmental consequences, both global and local. Already city dwellers are thought to be responsible for up to 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Sprawling urban development consumes arable land and vital green spaces. Therefore, in order to tackle climate change, avoid lasting damage to vital ecosystems and improve the health and wellbeing of billions of people, solutions to these problems must be sought at the municipal level. At the same time, environmental sustainability must go hand-in-hand with other important goals such as promoting economic development, reducing poverty and improving quality of life. Indeed, the green agenda is a necessary part of holistic, city-led strategies for economic, social and environmental sustainability. |
Objectives defined | It seeks to focus attention on the critical issue of urban environmental sustainability by creating a unique tool that helps cities benchmark their performance and share best practices. The goal of the index is to allow key stakeholder groups — such as city administrators, policymakers, infrastructure providers, environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs), urban sustainability experts, and citizens — to compare their city’s performance against others overall, and within each category. The index also allows for comparisons across cities clustered by a certain criteria, such as geographic region or income group. In short, this tool is provided in the hope that it will help European cities move towards being a bigger part of the solution to climate change and other environmental challenges. The Green City Index series measures cities on approximately 30 indicators across eight to nine categories depending on the region. |
Metrics used | The European Green City Index evaluates 16 quantitative and 14 qualitative indicators. The methodology for Europe was adapted for the other regional Indexes
Other city description matrix: density, GDP |
Diversity dimension and findings | Macro level of diversity by including cities with different GDP. |
Result summary | Europe Best city: Copenhagen Key finding: The east-west divide While there has been much progress to bridge the political and economic gaps between eastern and western Europe in the past 20 years, a marked environmental divide remains. Spotlight on Vilnius Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, ranks 13th in the European Index, making it the best performing city in eastern Europe and the best among lower-income cities in the Index. Latin America Best city: Curitiba - Curitiba is the clear leader in the Latin American Index Key finding: Brazilian cities lead the way on policy Spotlight on Bogotá Bogotá has a comparatively low per capita GDP in the Latin American Index, at US$8,400 (Index average is US$11,100), but despite that ranks among the better cities in the Index. Asia Best city: Singapore Key finding: China's environmental performance – beyond air quality and carbon emissions In 2009 China overtook the US as the world’s largest energy user, and for several years previously it already held the dubious distinction of producing the most greenhouse gases. The Chinese government, in official reports, has acknowledged serious problems with water pollution, air pollution and acid rain. Spotlight on Delhi Delhi has one of the lowest levels of GDP per capita in the Asian Green City Index, at an estimated US$2,000. Yet the Indian city still achieves an average overall rating, with very strong results in the waste category, generating 147 kg per capita. US and Canada Best city: San Francisco Key finding: US and Canadian cities face challenges but excel in many areas Spotlight on Vancouver: Vancouver ranks second overall in the US and Canada Index Africa South African cities lead on policy Key finding: Access to basic services is a widespread problem Connecting residents to basic infrastructure is a bigger challenge in Africa than anywhere else in the Green City Index series. Spotlight on Accra: Accra performs well in the African Index, despite its low income. |
Input for DivAirCity | Comparative methods with different cities Index with both quantitative and qualitative data Inclusive analysis with diverse regions |