How Glasgow is more sustainable than most English cities

The good news is that Glasgow has clean air, plenty of green spaces, excellent waste management and low environmental exposure. It is also one of the most affordable cities to live in, even ahead of several Chinese cities.*

However, its energy mix, energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions are all critically important areas where investment is needed.

Glasgow joins Edinburgh in being joint bottom of the Arcadis Sustainable Cities Index 2022 (SCI) table of UK cities, when it comes to greenhouse gases.

SCI examines cities across three pillars of sustainability: planet, people and profit. Although each pillar is weighted equally, the SCI findings show that a city can be dominant in one pillar but still fall in the overall ranking – and it is the combination of all pillars which determines how well a city performs.

How it rates for lifestyle

Glasgow’s impressive performance in the people pillar is built on a very high performance across the board, from amenities such as transport, internet, education and healthcare through to its healthy work-life balance.

The only clear challenge that the Index picks up is around income inequality, which Arcadia says needs attention. Glasgow’s peers for the people pillar are cities such as Lagos and Bangkok, Rome and Wellington.

Challenges for transport

Glasgow’s transport infrastructure is comparable to many other UK cities and suffers the same challenges – its sustainability lags behind London.

Its connectivity is also in the lower half of the index, above Leeds and Birmingham but far below London and on a par with Sao Paulo or Buenos Aires.

Action plan for change

The study shows that detailed data on cities is required in order to create practical action plans to combat climate change.

So, what needs to happen to give Glasgow a chance to not exceed 1.5 degrees of global warming and what role does the engineering sector need to play in making this possible? Arcadis has a clear message.

Fiona Harvey, Marketing Communications Director UK & Ireland at Arcadis, said: “We know what we need to do and where we need to do it; the next step is the how. To catalyse real progress on climate action, we need much better data about the sustainability performances of our cities, because each city has its own unique sustainability challenges to overcome.

“Together, we are facing an enormous challenge, and there is a dangerous likelihood that at this rate, we won’t achieve the Paris Climate Agreement. But we also know that if we admit defeat now, we’ll be in a much worse position in 2030 (and 2050). Every fraction of a degree counts, so we should be doing everything we can to try to reach this goal, despite the long odds.

“Only custom-tailored approaches can help cities take advantage of unique opportunities to mitigate climate change locally and help people adapt to the unique challenges it will bring to them.”

Putting the planet and people first

Fiona added: “An intriguing result of our study is that the data shows putting the planet and people first is a more reliable road to prosperity than putting profit first, as long as there is some profit to finance the necessary progress.

“Of the 20 cities at the top of the SCI, seven rank in the top ten for planet and three rank in the top ten for people. The lesson we can take away is that focusing on planet and people solutions can lead to economic pay-off and growth, preparing a city to succeed in rising sustainable economies of the future.”

Find out more

Arcadis is encouraging cities to compare the areas in which each city is doing well, in order to learn from each another and be inspired to find new ways to improve performance.

To learn more about the sustainability performances of all 100 of the world’s cities download the Arcadis Sustainable Cities Index 2022 here

*Arcadis Sustainable Cities Index 2022