New Zealand Celsias

The folks from the independent Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) conducted a study to find out and have awarded the prestigious title to Singapore, meanwhile, Karachi feared worst of all the cities and was the only city to find itself in the ‘well below average’ category. The study, called the Asian Green City Index and commissioned by Siemens, analyzed the aims and achievements of 22 major Asian cities with respect to environmental and climate protection, and   

Hong Kong, Osaka, Seoul, Taipei, Tokyo ands Yokohama come in second best in the ‘above average’ category. 

What made Singapore stand out as the only city to feature in the ‘well above average’ category is its ambitious environmental targets and its efficient approach to achieving them. 

The Asian Green City Index examines the environmental performance of 22 major Asian cities in eight categories: energy and CO₂, land use and buildings, transport, waste, water, sanitation, air quality and environmental governance. The EIU developed the methodology in cooperation with leading urban experts around the world, including representatives of the OECD, the World Bank and Asia’s regional network of local authorities, CITYNET.

“The study of Asian cities shows one thing very clearly: higher income does not necessarily mean higher resource consumption. While resource consumption increases substantially up to an annual gross domestic product (GDP) of about €15,000 (NZ$26,870) per capita, it drops again when income rises beyond this,” says Jan Friederich, research head of the EIU study. 

Why? In the prosperous Asian cities, environmental awareness is greater and infrastructures are more efficient. These cities are actively cutting their consumption of natural resources and are thus developing more sustainably. 

“In addition, cities that performed well in the Index are characterized by their ability to successfully implement environmental projects and consistently enforce regulations,” says Friederich. 

Other findings from the study include:

• Environmental awareness is growing, and the majority of the Asian cities have already introduced comprehensive environmental guidelines.
• Average annual CO₂ emissions per capita are 4.6 tons in the Asian cities, and below the corresponding figure for Europe (5.2 tons per capita and year).
• The 22 Asian cities produce an average of 375 kilograms of waste per capita and year, less than in Latin America (465 kilograms) and Europe (511 kilograms).
• According to the study, the biggest challenges facing Asia’s cities are in the following areas:
• Air pollution levels are relatively high in all the cities studied, regardless of income. The average values for all the cities substantially exceed WHO standards.
• Asia’s metropolises have much catching up to do in the area of renewable energies, which on average account for 11 percent of the total electricity generated in the 22 cities. By comparison, the average in Latin America is 64 percent – due to the high proportion of hydroelectric power plants there.