Singapore is the most "green" city among 22 cities in Asia!
In the recently released "Asian Green City Index," Singapore stands out as the only city among the 21 other participating Asian cities that significantly exceeds the average score. Other participating cities include Tokyo, Bangkok, Beijing, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Seoul, and Taipei.
This research project is sponsored by Siemens and conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) over the past six months. It primarily assesses the environmental sustainability of these Asian cities through evaluations of eight key areas: energy supply and carbon emissions, building and land use, transportation, waste management, water resources, sanitation, air quality, and environmental governance. The aim is to identify best practices in each city and promote further improvements and sharing of good ideas with other cities.
The results of this research project indicate that Singapore performs exceptionally well in waste management and water resources, both significantly exceeding the average levels, while also scoring above average in the other six areas.
Moreover, Siemens' Chief Sustainability Officer, Dr. Du Peiran, emphasized at a press conference held at the Conrad Centennial Hotel yesterday that the two decisive reasons for Singapore's outstanding performance are the "government's proactive promotion of environmental and resource protection, along with numerous related policies and measures implemented over the years, and the government's focus on the management of water resources, waste, and energy efficiency."
In the area of water resources, Singapore excels due to its high-quality water conservation and maintenance of water quality. In terms of waste management, the local per capita waste generation is 307 kilograms per year, significantly lower than the average of 380 kilograms in the index, and the local waste disposal policies are among the best in the index, allowing Singapore to excel in this area as well.
Dr. Wang Jingyuan, Director of the Waste Resource Research Center at Nanyang Technological University, stated in an interview: "Over the years, with the increase in the local population, the amount of waste has indeed increased compared to the past, but the per capita waste generation has shown a decreasing trend."
He also mentioned: "Singapore has indeed done well in waste management; however, like anything else, there is always room for further improvement."
He pointed out: "Other Asian cities, such as Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hanoi, have excellent practices in other areas that are worth learning from locally."
In this research project, besides Singapore, other cities such as Osaka and Yokohama in Japan also performed well, achieving significantly above-average scores in transportation and water resources, and scoring above average in the remaining seven categories as well.
Following the launch of the "European Green City Index" in 2009 and the "Latin American Green City Index" in 2010, the "Asian Green City Index" is the third regional green city index.
In the coming months, the EIU will conduct similar research projects focusing on Africa and North America.
In another "Green City" survey, Singapore ranks fourth among ten cities in the Asia-Pacific region.
In this survey, Singapore ranks fourth, following Tokyo, Seoul, and Melbourne.
This survey, conducted by the consulting firm Solidiance, explores the environmental sustainability of ten cities: Tokyo, Seoul, Melbourne, Singapore, Osaka, Sydney, Auckland, Busan, Taipei, and Hong Kong, through various aspects such as carbon emissions, renewable energy, transportation, air quality, water quality, waste, green spaces, and environmental governance.
Dr. Xu Lianxuan, Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources, also represented Singapore at the press conference yesterday, thanking the organizers for recognizing the local efforts in promoting "green cities" in various aspects, including urban planning, environmental and water resource management, and improving energy efficiency.
Singapore ranks fourth overall in this study, placing in the top three for green building policies, transportation, and water resource management; fourth for air quality and green spaces; sixth for carbon emissions; but the performance in renewable energy and waste management is less than ideal.
However, the study believes that the Singapore government has the capability to implement more green city policies and may achieve a higher ranking in the next two to three years.
