Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei are among Asia's greenest cities

The Asian Green City Index, a research project conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored by Siemens, examined 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 greenest metropolis was Singapore, which placed “well above average” in the overall findings.

Tokyo is the only city to rank “well above average” in the energy and CO2 category. It has also topped the water category, due largely to its ambitious policies.

Taipei, the third-richest city in the Index, has the second-lowest energy consumption level, a large amount of green spaces and, in comparison to other high-income cities, the lowest CO2 emissions per person.

Seoul, on the other hand, scored well in having the densest metro and bus rapid transit system of all cities and for being consistently strong on policies to maintain and improve the urban environment. However it faces its biggest challenges in air quality, affected by the surrounding province’s manufacturing industries.

Other ICLEI Member Cities surveyed were Delhi and Bangkok, which ranked average overall, but excelled in the areas of environmental governance and air quality. Delhi also generated the least amount of waste per capita of all 22 cities.

“The study of Asian cities shows one thing very clearly: higher income does not necessarily mean higher resource consumption,” said Jan Friederich, research head of the EIU study.

The study revealed that 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”, disclosed Friederich. 

To find out more about the Index, check out this press release or download the Asian City Index report.