air particle levels were ten times higher than the World Health Organization’s safety standards.

The alert shut down schools and stopped construction, reflecting China’s

ongoing issues with pollution. At that same time, the rest of the world was meeting in

Paris for the United Nations Climate Change convention, in an attempt to tackle growing

environmental concerns. So while Beijing is covered in smog, we want to know: what are

the cleanest cities in the world?

A 2012 Green City Index reported by the Economist Intelligence Unit examined each major world

region to determine which global factors contribute to cleanliness.

In Europe, many of the top spots were captured by Nordic countries, with Copenhagen in Denmark

as the cleanest city overall. Zurich, Switzerland also received high points for lowest CO2 emissions.

Both countries have strict limits on high polluting vehicles, but there is also a societal

push to use public transit, bicycling, and walking. Even the 2009 Copenhagen Accord saw

the world’s major economies come together for the first time to lower global emissions.

In Latin America, a clear and repeat winner for cleanest city has been Curitiba,in Brazil.

The city was the first to introduce bus rapid transit in 1974, and has continued

the trend of working with its citizens to provide environmental benefits. A recycling

program called, “Garbage? That’s not garbage!” has led to about ¾ of the city’s trash

recycled by residents. Other programs, like one which trades bus tokens for recycling,

shows how effective communal and government efforts can be.

Another top recycler, this time in Asia, is the city-state of Singapore. On average, they

generate less trash per person than the rest of the continent. But they also keep the city

clean through high density planning, and infrastructure investment. Recycling and water treatment

plants are state of the art, and designed around supplying the uniquely compact city.

With so many people living so close together, it is very important to produce as little

waste as possible.

Over in North America, it’s health conscious San Francisco that takes the lead. According

to the GCI, San Francisco recycles as much as 77% of their waste, which is more than

any European city besides Leipzig, Germany. Another reason is that SF requires that commercial

building owners submit regular energy usage reports, leading to considerably lower usage.

This, coupled with a sharing economy, high quality public transit, and and marginal environmental

tax benefits, makes SF incredibly clean.

Lastly, and unfortunately, no cities score “well above average” in Africa. The highest

ranked, Accra in Ghana, is not necessarily the cleanest. But they get major points for

having a direct bureaucratic link with the national government concerning the environment.

This helps not only in monitoring, but also action, and is found lacking in most African

cities profiled.

Overall, the most consistent aspect of environmental friendliness seemed to be based on society’s

willingness to take part. Mass transit and recycling help bring down emissions, as does

efficient city planning and government policy. But it should come as no surprise that without

the support of the people, there is little that can be done to save the earth.

While it is nice to live in a city with no pollution, much of the world does not have

that luxury. To find out what pollution actually does to your body, check out this video by

DNews. Thanks for

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