European Green City Index Assessing the Environmental Impact of Europe’S Major Cities
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European Green City Index Assessing the environmental impact of Europe’s major cities A research project conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored by Siemens European Green City Index | Contents Contents 06 Executive summary City portraits 40 Amsterdam, Netherlands 70 London, United Kingdom 10 The results 42 Athens, Greece 72 Madrid, Spain 44 Belgrade, Serbia 74 Oslo, Norway 12 Analysis of city trends Wealth matters 46 Berlin, Germany 76 Paris, France History matters: infrastructure and attitudes 48 Bratislava, Slovakia 78 Prague, Czech Republic People matter Size matters — at first 50 Brussels, Belgium 80 Riga, Latvia Europe matters: money and culture 52 Bucharest, Romania 82 Rome, Italy Location matters Looking ahead: implementing sustainable cities 54 Budapest, Hungary 84 Sofia, Bulgaria 22 Lessons from the leaders 56 Copenhagen, Denmark 86 Stockholm, Sweden CO2 emissions 58 Dublin, Ireland 88 Tallinn, Estonia Buildings Transport 60 Helsinki, Finland 90 Vienna, Austria Waste 62 Istanbul, Turkey 92 Vilnius, Lithuania Water An interview with Ritt Bjerregaard, Lord Mayor of Copenhagen 64 Kiev, Ukraine 94 Warsaw, Poland An interview with Vilius Navickas, Mayor of Vilnius 66 Lisbon, Portugal 96 Zagreb, Croatia 36 Methodology 68 Ljubljana, Slovenia 98 Zurich, Switzerland 2 3 European Green City Index | The cities The cities Helsinki, Finland Oslo, Norway Stockholm, Sweden Tallinn, Estonia Riga, Latvia Copenhagen, Denmark Vilnius, Lithuania The European Green City Index measures Dublin, Ireland and rates the environmental performance of 30 leading European cities from Amsterdam, Netherlands Berlin, Germany Warsaw, Poland London, United Kingdom 30 European countries. It takes into account Kiev, Ukraine 30 individual indicators per city, touching Brussels, Belgium on a wide range of environmental areas, Prague, Czech Republic from environmental governance and water Paris, France Bratislava, Slovakia consumption to waste management and Vienna, Austria Budapest, Hungary greenhouse gas emissions. Zurich, Switzerland Ljubljana, Slovenia Zagreb, Croatia Bucharest, Romania Belgrade, Serbia Sofia, Bulgaria Rome, Italy Madrid, Spain Istanbul, Turkey Lisbon, Portugal Athens, Greece 4 5 European Green City Index | Executive summary Executive summary Why cities matter: More than one-half of the ways, from increased use of public transport due stability, with only the Balkan wars breaking the ernment to modify their actions or policies. In back on the methodology. This study is not the world’s population now lives in urban areas, but to greater population density to smaller city general peace of recent decades. Moreover, citi- particular, increased costs or taxes are usually first comparison of the environmental impact of they are blamed for producing as much as 80% dwellings that require less heating and lighting. zen awareness of the importance of protecting met with scepticism, if not hostility. In the cur- European cities, nor does it seek to supplant of humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions. Fur- Many European cities have demonstrated their the environment and of green objectives has rent financial situation, this difficulty may well other worthwhile initiatives, such as the Euro- thermore, increasing urbanisation can negative- commitment to reducing their environmental markedly increased in recent years. This is boost- grow. Although many green technologies help pean Urban Ecosystem Survey or the European ly impact everything from the availability of impact by joining the Covenant of Mayors, a ed in part by a growing body of environmentally to reduce costs in the long run, immediate finan- Green Capital Award. Instead, its value lies in the arable land and vital green spaces to potable European Commission initiative launched in focussed EU legislation. cial concerns may impede the greater upfront breadth of information provided and in the form water and sanitary waste disposal facilities. Liv- January 2008 that asks mayors to commit to cut- But even in environmentally conscious investment which they also frequently require. in which it is presented. The index takes into ing in such close proximity tends to intensify ting carbon emissions by at least 20% by 2020. Europe, problems abound. Across the cities account 30 individual indicators per city that thedemands that urban settlements impose on This is encouraging the creation — often for the profiled in this report, an average of one in How the study was conducted: To aid efforts touch on a wide range of environmental areas their surrounding environments. very first time — of a formal plan for how cities three residents drive to work, contributing to and understanding in this field, the European — from environmental governance and water It is clear, then, that cities must be part of the can go about reducing their carbon impact, increased CO2 emissions and general air pollu- Green City Index seeks to measure and rate the consumption to waste management and green- solution if an urbanising world is to grapple suc- which bodes well for the future. tion. The average proportion of renewable ener- environmental performance of 30 leading Euro- house gas emissions — and ranks cities using a cessfully with ecological challenges such as cli- Of course, environmental performance gy consumed is just 7.3%, a long way short of pean cities both overall and across a range of transparent, consistent and replicable scoring mate change. In concentrated urban areas, it is inevitably varies from city to city, but some the EU’s stated goal of increasing the share of specific areas. In so doing, it offers a tool to process. The relative scores assigned to individ- possible for environmental economies of scale encouraging trends are emerging. Of the 30 renewable energy usage to 20% by 2020. Nearly enhance the understanding and decision-mak- ual cities (for performance in specific categories, to reduce the impact of human beings on the diverse European cities covered by this study, one in four litres of water consumed by cities is ing abilities of all those interested in environ- as well as overall) is also unique to the index and earth. This has already started to happen in nearly all had lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emis- lost through leakage. And less than one fifth of mental performance, from individual citizens allows for direct comparison between cities. Europe. According to the UN Population Divi- sions per head than the overall EU27 average of overall waste is currently recycled. Moreover, through to leading urban policymakers. The Of course, numbers alone only give part of sion, 72% of the continent’s population is urban 8.46 tonnes1. Part of this success comes from encouraging environmentally helpful behav- methodology was developed by the Economist the picture. To complement the core data within but the European Environment Agency (EEA) several advantages which European urban areas ioural change is not a straightforward matter: Intelligence Unit in co-operation with Siemens. the index, this study also seeks to provide con- says that its cities and towns account for just share. Compared to other regions of the world, cities often have little leverage to induce citi- An independent panel of urban sustainability text, with in-depth city portraits that not only 69% of energy use. This is achieved in a range of the continent has enjoyed remarkable political zens, companies, or even other levels of gov- experts provided important insights and feed- explain the challenges, strengths and weakness- 6 1) Based on the most recently available data, the majority of which was for 2006-07. 7 European Green City Index | Executive summary es of each city, but also highlight emerging best also face the legacy of history, dealing with scale, such as district heating or large public trans- Copenhagen, Stockholm and Amsterdam fea- practice and innovative ideas that others might decades of environmental neglect during the port networks, come into their own. According- tured in the top places in both lists, whereas wish to emulate. communist period. This is most visible in the ly, the index’s larger cities, with populations of 3 Bucharest and Sofia fared poorly in both. The index also differs from other studies in Key findings poorly insulated concrete-slab mass housing that million or more, perform relatively well, general- the fact that it is independently researched, was widely used, as well as the remains of highly ly occupying the top half of the rankings. Berlin The complete results from the index, includ- rather than being reliant on voluntary submis- polluting heavy industry. Although many have does best overall (8th), followed closely by Paris ing both overall rankings and individual rank- sions from city governments. This has enabled Highlights of the 2009 European Green unsurprising: wealthier cities can invest more innovative ideas regarding specific environmen- (10th), London (11th) and Madrid (12th). This ings within the eight sub-categories, follows us to cover 30 main cities — either political or City Index include the following: heavily in energy-efficient infrastructure and tal initiatives, such as a “lottery” in Ljubljana that isn’t universal, though: Athens (22nd) and Istan- next. For insights into what some of the leading business capitals — from 30 European countries. afford specialist environmental managers, for promotes the sorting of waste for recycling, bul (25th) both perform relatively poorly. cities have done to top the rankings within indi- The goal of the index is to allow key