London edges into top 10 global sustainable cities

London has made the top 10 in Arcadis’s latest Sustainable Cities Index, with Transport for London’s £1bn Northern Line extension cited as a key driver of its performance. Amsterdam topped the overall rankings for the index, which assesses 100 global cities across the three themes of planet, people and profit. Researchers said the Dutch capital’s performance was “a clear example of how sustainable developments can continue to be made”. One of the top drivers was the city’s Climate Neutral 2050 Roadmap, which sets out a strategy for reducing Amsterdam’s carbon emissions by 95% compared with 1990 levels. London ranked tenth, with Edinburgh placed 13th and Dublin 15th. They were followed by Glasgow (23rd), Manchester (30th), Birmingham (40th) and Leeds (43rd). The capital’s place in the rankings was boosted by TfL’s £1bn Northern Line extension into Battersea, which was highlighted as an exemplar for sustainable mobility. The extension, which opened in 2021, has stimulated the development of more than 20,000 homes. The top of the index was dominated by Western European cities, with Seoul leading the non-European contingent in 11th place. Locations in China performed particularly well among the Asian cities, with Shanghai and Beijing cracking the top 20. Apart from San Francisco (35th), New York (48th) and Toronto (49th), cities in North America fell in the lower half of the index. The four Australian cities included – Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane – ranked in the top half of the index, with Perth placed highest at 25th. Photo © Porapak Apichodilok/Pexels