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Singapore greenest city in Asia, Karachi 'well below average'
March 18, 2011
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Karachi got full marks for its eco-buildings policy, including energy efficiency standards on public buildings, and incentives for households and businesses to lower their energy use. The study reports that the Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation has brought down the rate of losses in transmission from 4.2% in 2008 to 2.4% in 2009 through a number of measures to track more accurately where electricity is being delivered. In the category of green initiatives, the report cites that the government is making attempts to urge developers to include parks in urban planning. However, the amount of green spaces, at 17 square metres per person, is below the Index average of 39 square metres, and the city only partially protects green spaces through regulations. For environmental governance, Karachi ranks below average. The city has an environmental department, but it lacks the full legal remit to enact environmental regulations, the Index reports. The Index gave the city full marks for having conducted a baseline environmental review within the last five years, but is marked down for not fully monitoring its environmental performance and publishing the results
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Singapore is Asia’s greenest metropolis, beating out 21 other major Asian cities. This is the conclusion of the Asian Green City Index 2011, which was released recently. The only city from Pakistan to feature in the index was Karachi, judged 'well below average'. New Delhi was ranked “average overall”.
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) was commissioned by European technology company (Siemens) to conduct a study of urban development in Asia. The resulting Asian Green City Index carefully evaluates 22 major cities throughout the continent based on almost 30 environmental sustainability criteria and rates their performance. The index supports cities in their efforts to expand their infrastructures sustainably in order to enable Asia’s up-and-coming urban centers to achieve healthy growth rates coupled with a high quality of life.
President and CEO of Siemens AG Peter Löscher affirmed all cities can benefit from the results of the Green City Index, and the index helps cities to learn from one another. Löscher said: “The study provides information on effective technologies and environmental solutions to help cities with this effort. It also provides in-depth city profiles that describe the challenges, strengths and weaknesses of each city and highlight emerging best practice and innovative ideas that others might wish to follow.”
The study, which collected data between April and June last year, assessed cities in eight categories and 29 sub-categories. It rates different Asian city performance on various metrics that include Energy and CO2, transport, water, air quality, land use and buildings, waste, sanitation, and environmental governance.
Singapore was the only city to be rated 'well above average' in a five-rating index. It came up tops in its management of waste and water resources. It also scored consistently above average in the other categories, such as sanitation and environmental governance. Singapore fared well thanks to the Government's emphasis on long-term sustainability.
According to benchmarks set by experts from the United Nations and the World Bank, Singapore is a winner for the way it collects and disposes of waste. The index noted that the government has raised its target to recycle rubbish from 56 per cent in 2008 to 65 per cent by 2020. Singapore also fared well in its plans for green transport systems, such as investing in doubling the rail network by 2020, and installing new cycling paths in neighbourhoods.
Hong Kong, Osaka, Tokyo, Yokohama, Seoul and Taipei were banded as 'above average', while Singapore’s neighbouring cities, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, both scored an overall rating of 'average'. Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore), Hanoi, Kolkata, Manila and Mumbai also did not score well. Making average strides environmentally were Bangkok, Beijing, Delhi, Guangzhou, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Nanjing, Shanghai, and Wuhan.
In the bottom tier of the rankings is Karachi, with a 'well below average' rating. This is sadly because thoughtless littering is common in our public spaces. Municipal waste from Karachi contains 89•5% (dry basis) total recyclable material with polyethylene/chloride/plastics (9•85%); paper/cardboard (10•1%); glass (1•24%); bones (1•85%); metal/tins (0•74%); leather/rubber (0•2%); and organic vegetable matter (54•5%). Four thousand five hundred tonnes of garbage produced daily in Karachi has 250–318 tonnes polyethylene/PVC/plastics; 230–300 tonnes paper/cardboard; 26–34 tonnes glass; 43–56 tonnes bones; 13–17 tonnes metal/tins; 5–6 tonnes leather/rubber and 14–18 tonnes wood.
While comparing the annual production of waste, the Index reports that the 22 Asian cities generate an average of 380 kg of waste per person per year, compared with 465 kg in Latin America and 511 kg in Europe. Every city in the Asian Green City Index has a strategy to reduce, recycle or re-use waste. The vast majority have environmental standards governing waste disposal sites and for industrial hazardous waste. Most cities also monitor illegal waste dumping.
The study further states that every city has recycling programmes covering a comprehensive range of materials including organic waste, electrical items, glass, plastics and paper. Waste collection is weaker. Only seven cities collect and adequately dispose of more than 99% of waste, and on average the figure is 81%, compared with 96% in Latin America.
Japan, ranked second, is a true example of a clean and green nation. Though Tokyo is a massively crowded city, it manages to remain clean without an over-reliance on cleaners and bins like in Singapore. Japanese clear their own trays at food courts and keep their tables fairly clean when they dine, unlike most Pakistanis and even Singaporeans at food centres. Recycling bins in Japan serve their proper purpose, unlike here where all manner of rubbish is dumped indiscriminately.
The study found Karachi’s best performance in the water category, where it ranks average, mainly for a low rate of per capita water consumption. Karachi is below average in most other categories. The city has the biggest challenges in the transport and air quality categories, where it ranks well below average. In these categories, it is marked down particularly for lacking a superior public transport network, such as metro lines, bus rapid transit systems or trams, and for high average daily concentrations of the three air pollutants evaluated in the Index. For Energy and CO2 the Index ranks Karachi below average. According to the Index the city produces less-than-average levels of CO2 per person, at an estimated 3.1 tonnes compared to the Index average of 4.6 tonnes.
The Indian capital is among "above average" performers in Energy management and curbing CO2 emissions, but Kolkata disappoints with a below average tag. Each inhabitant in Delhi generates, on average, an estimated 1.1 tonnes of CO2 per year, the third best level in the Index, and well below the Index average of 4.6 tonnes. Mumbai had better reading with its inhabitants emitting an estimated 1 tonne of CO2 per capita per year, which is much lower than the Index average.
Regarding energy efficiency, the Index states that Karachi consumes an estimated 7.8 megajoules per US$ of GDP, compared to the average of 6 megajoules. The city does receive full marks for policies to consume energy more efficiently, but is marked down for not monitoring greenhouse gas emissions. Its climate change action plan covers only three of the six areas evaluated in the Index: waste, transport and energy, but not water, sanitation or buildings.
Karachi ranks below average in land use and buildings. This is due to a relatively low population density, a lower-than-average result on green spaces per person, and weaknesses on government policies are relatively weak, largely because local government authority over policy is divided between agencies. Thus there is poor enforcement of existing planning regulations.
Karachi got full marks for its eco-buildings policy, including energy efficiency standards on public buildings, and incentives for households and businesses to lower their energy use. The study reports that the Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation has brought down the rate of losses in transmission from 4.2% in 2008 to 2.4% in 2009 through a number of measures to track more accurately where electricity is being delivered.
In the category of green initiatives, the report cites that the government is making attempts to urge developers to include parks in urban planning. However, the amount of green spaces, at 17 square metres per person, is below the Index average of 39 square metres, and the city only partially protects green spaces through regulations.
For environmental governance, Karachi ranks below average. The city has an environmental department, but it lacks the full legal remit to enact environmental regulations, the Index reports. The Index gave the city full marks for having conducted a baseline environmental review within the last five years, but is marked down for not fully monitoring its environmental performance and publishing the results. Karachi also has some of the weaker policies in the Index regarding public access to environmental information and involving citizens in decisions about projects with environmental impacts, but this is improving within the city.
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