The future is green – we hope. But where will it be greenest and which are the Cities of the Future?
A new report, entitled Cities of the Future, proposes to list the ten most vegan-friendly, eco-conscious, and sustainable cities in the world.
The report, published by the online food hub abillion, recognises global cities based on their commitment to green policies, their reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, how they have adapted to an increasingly plant-based world, and the amount of waste they generate.
The Cities of the Future guide is based on 850,000 authentic user reviews contributed by 32,000 members from at least 6,000 cities around the world.
The contributed data was then analysed by abillion’s team of data scientists and researchers. They held the reviews against public policy commitments which work towards the environmental United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), as well as records of each city’s greenhouse gas emissions and waste generation.
In short, abillion’s report seeks to highlight cities around the world that will, in turn, help usher in a more sustainable future.
This year, London took the top spot, being named abillion’s City of the Future, and hence the most vegan-friendly and sustainable metropolis on the planet.
The online food community points out that London scored so highly because of its future-ready approach to plant-based lifestyles (there are also close to 900 restaurants with vegan-friendly options) and its robust commitments to green political policies (particularly on transport and green spaces).
Though vegan-friendly and politically committed to environmental sustainability, London was somewhat let down by its emissions.
According to abillion, the capital was responsible for a significant proportion of the United Kingdom’s annual carbon dioxide emissions (in 2019, this exceeded 370m tonnes of CO2).
Los Angeles followed in second place, buoyed by its Sustainable City Plan, published in 2015, offering a roadmap towards a cleaner city environment with an auxiliary commitment to enact sustainable development goals set by the United Nations. The plan is backed by the Climate Emergency Commission.
In third place, as well as being incredibly vegan-friendly, Barcelona shows a strong commitment towards being a city of the future.
Just last year, the Spanish city revealed a giant €563m plan to halve greenhouse gas emissions within the next ten years.
The most sustainable and vegan-friendly cities ranked after London, Los Angeles, and Barcelona are as follows:
- Melbourne
- Singapore
- Johannesburg
- Toronto
- New York City
- Berlin
- Cape Town
“Around 6,000 cities were considered but only 54 cities made the initial cut,” explains Vikas Garg, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of abillion.
“In light of the COP26 climate summit where nature took centre stage, our report highlights how leading cities around the world have been making strides to being kinder on the planet and its residents — human and animal alike.”
