EnviroStats!

This ranking was called a “survey” but it was not that in the sense of getting public opinion. Rather, the ranking was based on a system created by American environmental economist Matthew Kahn at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and author of Green Cities: Urban Growth And the Environment. It was done for Reader’s Digest magazine but because of some of his training and credentials, as well as thumbs up by Readers’ Digest to carry the story and maybe even commissioned it, I’ll accept his work as credible for presenting it for consideration and discussion. I do not know much about him or his perspectives, but I’ll point out a few interesting results for assessing that.

Professor Kahn used the UN 2006 Human Development Index and 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index statistics to draw his conclusions. The original article includes some of his methodology in non-academia terms because Reader’s Digest is popular reading, but thank goodness, too. There are also category breakdowns like energy efficiency, air and water quality and such, so you can see how some of places stacked against each other on different fronts, but the full score keeping was not easily found by me on limited search time.

Short list of points to follow after each list.

Greenest Countries (highlights for author’s interests)
1. Finland
2. Iceland
3. Norway
4. Sweden
5. Austria
6. Switzerland
7. Ireland
8. Australia
9. Uruguay
10. Denmark
11. Canada
12. Japan
13. Israel
14. Italy
15. Slovenia
16. France
17. Netherlands
18. Portugal
19. New Zealand
20. Greece
21. Germany
22. Latvia
23. United States
24. Lithuania
25. United Kingdom
26. Belgium
27. Argentina
28. Croatia
29. Spain
30. Hungary
31. Albania
32. Estonia
33. Slovakia
34. Costa Rica
35. South Korea
36. Cuba
37. Belarus
38. Czech Republic
39. Bosnia and Herzegovina
40. Brazil
41. Panama 42. Armenia 43. Chile 44. Paraguay 45. United Arab Emirates 46. Macedonia 47. Bulgaria 48. Poland 49. Kuwait 50. Oman 51. Russia 52. Peru 53. Colombia 54. Malaysia 55. Guyana 56. Romania 57. Trinidad & Tobago 58. Georgia 59. Kazakhstan 60. Moldova 61. Thailand 62. Tunisia 63. Mexico 64. Libya 65. Ukraine 66. Sri Lanka 67. Lebanon 68. Venezuela 69. Ecuador 70. Turkey 71. Jordan 72. Algeria 73. Kyrgyzstan 74. Azerbaijan 75. Bolivia 76. Gabon 77. Dominican Republic 78. Syria 79. El Salvador 80. Saudi Arabia 81. Jamaica 82. Indonesia 83. Iran 84. China 85. Nicaragua 86. Namibia 87. Philippines 88. Egypt 89. Mongolia 90. Viet Nam 91. Myanmar 92. Honduras 93. Botswana 94. Turkmenistan 95. Tajikistan 96. South Africa 97. Guatemala 98. Cambodia 99. Uzbekistan 100. Bhutan 101. Laos 102. Morocco 103. Ghana 104. India 105. Congo 106. Cameroon 107. Uganda 108. Nepal 109. Papua New Guinea 110. Gambia 111. Bangladesh 112. Madagascar 113. Senegal 114. Togo 115. Pakistan 116. Kenya 117. Rwanda 118. Guinea 119. Zimbabwe 120. Zambia 121. Nigeria 122. Sudan 123. Tanzania 124. Benin 125. Central Africa Republic 126. Malawi 127. Mauritania 128. Yemen 129. Angola 130. Côte d’Ivoire 131. Democratic Republic of the Congo 132. Haiti 133. Mali 134. Guinea-Bissau 135. Mozambique 136. Burundi 137. Chad 138. Burkina Faso 139. Sierra Leone 140. Niger 141. Ethiopia

The Scandanavian countries being on top does not surprise me. Israel being so high does because while I don’t know much about their eco-friendliness, just their plastic bag problem and attitude towards it has jaded me (Stat 0391).

Seeing how many German and French cities on the next list in the top 10 cities, it surprises me France is behind Israel and Germany is at a pitiful #21. I know the urban factor isn’t everything, but in these smaller countries, you have to figure that it is a big factor because it’s not like Canada where it’s mostly empty.

Please check the referenced article for more details and draw your own conclusions.

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Greenest Cities (highlights top cities from countries of author’s interests)
1. Stockholm, Sweden
2. Oslo, Norway
3. Munich, Germany
4. Paris, France
5. Frankfurt, Germany
6. Stuttgart, Germany
7. Lyon, France
8. Dusseldorf, Germany
9. Nantes, France
10. Copenhagen, Denmark
11. Geneva, Switzerland
12. Zurich, Switzerland
13. Glasgow, United Kingdom
14. Barcelona, Spain
15. New York, United States
16. Brussels, Belgium
17. Hamburg, Germany
18. Hong Kong, PR China
19. Newcastle, United Kingdom
20. Tokyo, Japan
21. Helsinki, Finland
22. Washington, DC, United States
23. Chicago, United States
24. Vancouver, Canada
25. Dortmund, Germany
26. San Francisco, United States
27. London, United Kingdom
28. Perth, Australia
29. Melbourne, Australia
30. Manchester, United Kingdom
31. Graz, Austria
32. Berlin, Germany
33. Ottawa, Canada
34. Wellington, New Zealand
35. Amsterdam, Netherlands
36. Atlanta, United States
37. Marseille, France
38. Vienna, Austria
39. Rome, Italy
40. Sydney, Australia
41. Prague, Czech Republic 42. Brisbane, Australia 43. Denver, United States 44. Berne, Switzerland 45. Singapore, Singapore 46. Houston, United States 47. Bologna, Italy 48. Montreal, Canada 49. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 50. Toronto, Canada 51. Cape Town, South Africa 52. Seoul, South Korea 53. Milan, Italy 54. Curitiba, Brazil 55. San Diego, United States 56. Madrid, Spain 57. Los Angeles, United States 58. Budapest, Hungary 59. Calgary, Canada 60. Phoenix, United States 61. Johannesburg, South Africa 62. Sao Paulo, Brazil 63. Athens, Greece 64. Tel Aviv, Israel 65. Chennai, India 66. Cracow, Poland 67. Taipei, Taiwan 68. Bangkok, Thailand 69. Guangzhou, PR China 70. Mumbai, India 71. Shanghai, PR China 72. Beijing, PR China

I had no idea Glasgow was so green but am glad to see it so. I’ve known New York to be fairly green so its presence at #15 was not surprising but the top 14 were all European and only Glasgow off mainland Europe.

But Hong Kong being #18 and ahead of Vancouver in #24??? This was a major point of contention. If you’ve ever seen any of those “livable” cities listing, Vancouver is perennially at or near the top. Sure, eco-friendliness isn’t everything in those surveys, but I’ve lived there and it’s green enough that I’d defend it against Hong Kong six spots above it ANY day! Hell, 55% of senior executives surveyed in the last year or so declined job offers (big money ones, of course) in Hong Kong because of its pollution! See Stat 0348.

As well, with Tel Aviv, Israel coming in at #64, this guy’s trying to tell me the rest of Israel is so different it could offset this setback and place itself #13 among countries in the world? Maybe with only 7 million people the aggregate amounts don’t add up to much so an “overall footprint” is small, but then eco-friendly would not be the term I’d use for this rating because that somehow seems to be a condition for everyone’s lifestyle meaning aggregate footprint isn’t the point here. Otherwise, I think the US and China, just on CO2 alone, would be at the bottom of the countries’ lists.

He at least righted his boat somewhat by having Shanghai and Beijing at the bottom of this list, although many places were not considered, obviously, including the ten most polluted in Stat 0392, as ranked by the Blacksmith Institute.

Anyway, you read it and sort it out for yourself if you really need the details. I’m just presenting for consideration and what should be a good discussion if you so choose to engage in it.

- British focused analysis in The Telegraph, Oct 4 2007

- Who Lives Greeniest? in Reader’s Digest World, Oct 2007 (0.2 MB)