View of the Supertree Grove at Gardens by the Bay. (Photo: Jan / Wikimedia Commons)
Paris and Singapore have taken the top two spots in a ranking of global cities for green buildings in a White Paper published by consultancy firm Solidiance, while London is in third place.
The report sought to compare the performance of the top 10 global cities with regards to green buildings.
These cities were assessed across four categories – city-wide green building landscape, building efficiency and performance, green building policies and targets, and green city culture and environment.
“All three cities – London, Paris, Singapore – are clearly advanced in the field of green buildings in terms of standards and actual certified buildings and landmarks. They also have a long history of urban planning, research, regulations and frameworks, which make them examples for other cities in the world,” said Saeed Al Abbar, Chairman of the Emirates Green Building Council, United Arab Emirates.
Paris and Singapore rose to the top spot because both cities excelled in all four categories. Also, they are the only cities to rank within the top five in each category.
“Singapore can certainly be considered a leader in the field of green building. The city target for 80 percent of buildings to achieve BCA Green Mark standards by 2030 is ambitious but achievable, and the Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC) will play a key role in delivering this!” noted Terri Wills, CEO of the World Green Building Council, United Kingdom.
Meanwhile, Sydney, Tokyo, and Hong Kong clinched the fourth, fifth and sixth spots respectively, while New York is in seventh place.
Dubai, Beijing and Shanghai are the last cities on the list, which is unsurprising considering that these cities are amongst the most recent to join the green building movement.
Solidiance noted that the rankings should see changes in the future as these newer ‘green building cities’ are setting ambitious targets to catch up to other cities’ levels.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
