Singapore, Seoul, and Hong Kong ranked among the world's top 10 most environmentally friendly and economically sustainable cities, placing 10th, 7th, and 8th respectively.
Arcadis, a Netherlands-based global natural and architectural asset design firm, collaborates annually with the UK-based Center for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) to assess 50 prominent cities worldwide based on the triple bottom line—environment, economy, and society—and publish the Sustainable Cities Index report.
Apart from the three Asian cities mentioned above, the rest of the top 10 cities are unsurprisingly all located in Europe. Frankfurt and Berlin in Germany ranked 1st and 6th respectively, London in the UK ranked 2nd, Copenhagen in Denmark ranked 3rd, Amsterdam and Rotterdam in the Netherlands ranked 4th and 5th respectively, and Madrid in Spain ranked 9th.
Arcadis points out that the triple bottom line, which assesses cities' performance across three distinct dimensions—economic, environmental, and social—is currently the best evaluation method. Through several sub-items belonging to these three dimensions, each city receives a comprehensive score, allowing stakeholders to understand where the city can further improve.
Singapore, for example, scored highly in both environmental and economic aspects. Environmental indicators include a city's energy consumption, recycling rate, air pollution levels, drinking water, and sanitation. Economic indicators assess a city's dynamism and importance in the global economy, as well as the cost of living and property for its residents.
Of the three Asian cities ranked in the top 10, only Singapore also ranked highly in environmental indicators. This is attributed to the Singaporean government's focus on sustainability in urban planning. For example, the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore has set a target of at least 80% of buildings achieving sustainability certification by 2030. However, the report also points out that Singapore's poor energy efficiency has led to increased business operating costs, thus preventing it from further improving its ranking.
Please download the attached file for the full report: arcadis-sustainable-cities-index-report (English).
Sources:Eco-Business (2015-02-10) (Compiled by PIDC) Attachment file:arcadis-sustainable-cities-index-report.pdf
