Megacity Singapore is Asia’s greenest city 

          Singapore is Asia’s greenest metropolis. This is the conclusion of the Asian Green City Index – a study commissioned by Siemens and performed by the independent Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). For the study, which was carried out over the past few months, the EIU analyzed the aims and achievements of 22 major Asian cities with respect to environmental and climate protection. Singapore stands out in particular for its ambitious environmental targets and its efficient approach to achieving them. In other Asian cities as well, however, environmental awareness and climate protection guidelines are playing an increasingly important role.  Unsurprisingly Osaka, Tokyo, Yokohama, Seoul, Taipei, and Hong Kong have above-average overall rankings, while Bangkok ranks average overall in the index similar to Beijing, Delhi, Guangzhou, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Nanjing, Shanghai, and Wuhan. Bangkok’s best performances are in the air quality and environmental governance categories where it ranks above average.
           The Asian Green City Index examines 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 EIU developed the methodology in cooperation with leading urban experts around the world, including representatives of the OECD, the World Bank and Asia’s regional network of local authorities, CITYNET.
           The study of Asian cities shows one thing very clearly: higher income does not necessarily mean higher resource consumption. Why? 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.
The study’s key findings for the city of Bangkok are :
            - Bangkok scores well in the category of environmental governance for having a dedicated environmental department with a wide remit, and for involving residents in environmental decisions.
            - It ranks average in energy and CO2 emission.  The city produces about 6.7 tonnes of CO2 emissions per head, above the 22- city average of 4.6 tonnes/head.  However, it performs pretty well on energy consumption per unit of GDP, which is about 6 megajoules per US$ equivalent to the index average. Transportation accounts for almost 40% of the city’s CO2 emission due to a high rate of car ownership and electricity generation.
            - The city performs relatively well in terms of clean energy policies, in particular for a strong energy strategy and waste-energy investments.
            - Bangkok ranks below average in the land use and buildings category due to the lack of green spaces (3 square metres per person). However it scores well for publicly promoting ways to improve energy efficiency in buildings. 
            - In the waste category Bangkok ranks below average. The city generates 535 kg waste/person, versus the index average of 375 kg/person, and only collects 63% of it comparing to the index average of 83%.
            - The below average performance of Thailand’s capital in water reflects the high level of water consumption at 340 liters/person a day, versus the average index of 278 liters. Water system leakages have led the city’s losing of around 35% of water supply, compared to the index average of 22%.