Why cities matter: More than one-half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas, but they are blamed for producing as much as 80% of humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore,increasing urbanisation can negatively impact everything from the availability ofarable land and vital green spaces to potablewater and sanitary waste disposal facilities. Living in such close proximity tends to intensify the demands that urban settlements impose on their surrounding environments.

It is clear, then, that cities must be part of thesolution if an urbanising world is to grapple successfullywith ecological challenges such as climate change. In concentrated urban areas, it is possible for environmental economies of scale to reduce the impact of human beings on the earth. This has already started to happen in Europe. According to the UN Population Division, 72% of the continent’s population is urban but the European Environment Agency (EEA)says that its cities and towns account for just 69% of energy use. This is achieved in a range of ways, from increased use of public transport dueto greater population density to smaller city dwellings that require less heating and lighting. Many European cities have demonstrated their commitment to reducing their environmental impact by joining the Covenant of Mayors, a European Commission initiative launched in January 2008 that asks mayors to commit to cutting carbon emissions by at least 20% by 2020. This is encouraging the creation — often for the very first time — of a formal plan for how cities can go about reducing their carbon impact, which bodes well for the future.

Of course, environmental performance inevitably varies from city to city, but some encouraging trends are emerging. Of the 30 diverse European cities covered by this study, nearly all had lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per head than the overall EU27 average of 8.46 tonnes. Part of this success comes from several advantages which European urban areas share. Compared to other regions of the world, the continent has enjoyed remarkable political stability, with only the Balkan wars breaking thegeneral peace of recent decades. Moreover, citizen awareness of the importance of protecting the environment and of green objectives has markedly increased in recent years. This is boosted in part by a growing body of environmentally focussed EU legislation.

But even in environmentally conscious Europe, problems abound. Across the cities profiled in this report, an average of one in three residents drive to work, contributing to increased CO2 emissions and general air pollution.The average proportion of renewable energy consumed is just 7.3%, a long way short ofthe EU’s stated goal of increasing the share ofrenewable energy usage to 20% by 2020. Nearly one in four litres of water consumed by cities islost through leakage. And less than one fifth of overall waste is currently recycled. Moreover, encouraging environmentally helpful behavioural change is not a straightforward matter:cities often have little leverage to induce citizens,companies, or even other levels of government to modify their actions or policies. Inparticular, increased costs or taxes are usually met with scepticism, if not hostility. In the current financial situation, this difficulty may well grow. Although many green technologies help to reduce costs in the long run, immediate financial concerns may impede the greater upfront investment which they also frequently require.

How the study was conducted: To aid efforts and understanding in this field, the EuropeanGreen City Index seeks to measure and rate the environmental performance of 30 leading Europeancities both overall and across a range of specific areas. In so doing, it offers a tool to enhance the understanding and decision-making abilities of all those interested in environmental performance, from individual citizens through to leading urban policymakers. The methodology was developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit in co-operation with Siemens. An independent panel of urban sustainability experts provided important insights and feedback on the methodology. This study is not the first comparison of the environmental impact of European cities, nor does it seek to supplant other worthwhile initiatives, such as the European Urban Ecosystem Survey or the European Green Capital Award. Instead, its value lies in the breadth of information provided and in the form in which it is presented. The index takes into account 30 individual indicators per city that touch on a wide range of environmental areas— from environmental governance and water consumption to waste management and greenhouse gas emissions — and ranks cities using a transparent, consistent and replicable scoring process. The relative scores assigned to individual cities (for performance in specific categories, as well as overall) is also unique to the index and allows for direct comparison between cities.

Of course, numbers alone only give part ofthe picture. To complement the core data withinthe index, this study also seeks to provide context, with in-depth city portraits that not only explain the challenges, strengths and weaknesses of each city, but also highlight emerging best practice and innovative ideas that others might wish to emulate.

The index also differs from other studies in the fact that it is independently researched, rather than being reliant on voluntary submissionsfrom city governments. This has enabled us to cover 30 main cities — either political or business capitals — from 30 European countries.

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.