Unsurprisingly, Singapore tops the indices, ranking the world’s most sustainable cities. With just over 5.6 million inhabitants, the Asian city-state has the second-highest population density in the world. Singapore’s Green Plan 2030, adopted earlier this year, also includes strengthening resilience to climate change as a priority in the recovery from COVID-19 for a more sustainable future.
Local governments and authorities can provide the commitment and innovation in cities that are needed to tackle and solve many of these problems. The European Green Capital and the European Green Leaf Awards are initiatives to promote and reward these efforts.
Paper and cardboard are the most common packaging waste materials, contributing 34 million metric tons to the total packaging waste generated in 2021.
The Green City Accord is a movement to improve the quality of life for all Europeans and accelerate the implementation of relevant EU environmental legislation. By signing the Accord, cities commit to addressing five areas of environmental management: air, water, nature and biodiversity, circular economy and waste, and noise.
Greenwashing is making false or misleading claims about the environmental benefits of a product or practice, attempting to emphasize the sustainable aspects of the product to overshadow the company’s involvement in environmentally damaging practices.
In 2021, fossil fuels accounted for almost 93% of the energy used in road and rail transport in the EU.Biofuels are an alternative to fossil fuels to help reduce GHG emissions in the transport sector.
EU legislation on energy labeling and eco-design is estimated to save around 230 million metric tons of oil equivalent (MTOe) of energy by 2030. For consumers, this means an average saving of €285 per year on household energy bills. In addition, energy efficiency measures will generate €66 billion in additional revenue for European companies
Governments can pool funding for priority climate actions through their budget processes, such as those set out in their national climate commitments, or issue sovereign green bonds to finance projects.
As part of the Fit for 55 legislative package, the EU has introduced the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) to distribute the burden of emissions reduction
The EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is a market-based tool to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by limiting the total emissions allowed for specific industries and power plants while allowing companies to trade allowances. The EU ETS has benefits, including incentivizing emissions reduction and generating revenue for climate-related projects.
