Climate and energy transition

Copenhagen is the greenest major city in Europe, according to a study orchestrated by the Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by Siemens.

The study, which was presented at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009, evaluated 30 major cities in 30 European countries based on their achievements and objectives in terms of climate change and environmental challenges.

The data was processed using the European Green City Index, which presents the results according to eight different categories: carbon emissions, energy, buildings, transport, water, waste and land use, air quality and environmental governance. The various categories provide a more transparent and detailed analysis and allow for cities to compare themselves to one another according to varying criteria.

The study shows a strong link between a city's wealth and its rank on the index. Indeed, nine out of the top ten cities have a GDP of €31 000 per capita or more, while Eastern cities, which appear lower on the list, have a GDP of less than €21 000 per capita. This lower ranking is largely due to the lack of attention paid to environmental protection in previous decades, notably under the communist regime. Eastern cities did however rank high in certain individual categories, especially in transport, Kiev having the largest estimated percentage of people to use public transport to commute, despite it being ranked 30th overall.

Scandinavian cities ranked higher thanks to their awareness of environmental protection and to their ambitious climate policies and targets. Copenhagen, for example, aims to become completely carbon free by 2025.

The top 30 greenest cities in Europe are: (1) Copenhagen, (2) Stockholm, (3) Oslo, (4) Vienna, (5) Amsterdam, (6) Zurich, (7) Helsinki, (8) Berlin, (9) Brussels, (10) Paris, (11) London, (12) Madrid, (13) Vilnius, (14) Rome, (15) Riga, (16) Warsaw, (17) Budapest, (18) Lisbon, (19) Ljubljana, (20) Bratislava, (21) Dublin, (22) Athens, (23) Tallinn, (24) Prague, (25) Istanbul, (26) Zagreb, (27) Belgrade, (28) Bucharest, (29) Sofia, and (30) Kiev.