Eight of Top Ten Green Cities ICLEI Members

As part of its Global Green Economy Index, Dual Citizen LLC ranks cities by perceptions of their “greenness”. It asks a variety of targeted stakeholders for their perceptions of their cities in four categories: Leadership & Climate Change, Efficiency Sectors, Markets & Investment, and Environment & Natural Capital.

This year, the rankings were as follows:

1. Copenhagen
2. Amsterdam
3. Stockholm
4. Vancouver
5. London
6. Berlin
7. New York
8. Singapore
9. Helsinki
10. Oslo

Here at ICLEI, we were delighted to see that eight of the top ten cities in this ranking are ICLEI members! These cities have committed to local action for sustainability and are being rewarded for their commitment.

The main purpose of the Global Green Economy Index is to rank countries by perceptions of their “greenness”. The top ten countries were:

1. Germany
2. Denmark
3. Sweden
4. Norway
5. Netherlands
6. United States
7. Japan
8. United Kingdom
9. Finland
10. Switzerland

As the report notes, while there is some correlation between the highest-ranked countries and the highest-ranked cities, there are significant differences.

One thing this might suggest is that cities can take responsibility for their own progress in terms of sustainability. While national governments have to bring together a variety of actors within large frameworks, cities can mobilize their resources quickly and efficiently.

Between 2007 and 2010, for instance, Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (HRT) demonstrated the benefits of using clean high-quality renewable diesel fuel in buses. The diesel could be used without the need for any changes to the buses, and tests showed significant and permanent emission benefits. Given that buses are the backbone of many public transport systems, this experiment constituted a major success, and is one of the reasons that Helsinki figures in the Global Green Economy Index’s Top Ten.

At ICLEI, we bring cities together to share these kinds of breakthroughs, and we provide expertise to help cities make the most of their sustainability projects. We invite the two cities in the Top Ten who are not yet ICLEI members to join us and the other eight!