Newcastle is Greenest City in Britain

A national environmental study of British cities has found that Newcastle upon Tyne in the North of England is the greenest city in Britain.  Carried out by think tank organisation Forum for the Future, the study assessed 20 of Britain’s largest cities in terms of their sustainability.  Among the specific areas it looked into were:

• Urban air pollution levels
• Quality of life
• The amount of wildlife that lived in them

Ultimately, Newcastle was judged both the greenest and the most sustainable in Britain for 2009.  Bristol – in the South West - came top in 2008 but was runner up this time around while the capital city, London, came in fifth place.

Greenest Cities in Britain

Here’s the greenest cities in Britain in top-ten order:

• Newcastle
• Bristol
• Brighton and Hove
• Leicester
• London
• Leeds
• Edinburgh
• Nottingham
• Sheffield
• Cardiff

A linked issue that the study explored was how all 20 participating cities would be able to deal with the future impact of climate change.

Newcastle: Britain’s Greenest City

“Cities with an industrial heritage face genuine challenges, but Newcastle's success shows that it is possible to overcome the legacy of the past and perform well on many measures of sustainability”, Forum for the Future’s chief executive, Peter Madden stated. In relation to Newcastle being found as Britain’s greenest city, he added: “We hope it will inspire other cities to redouble their efforts.”

“For the past five years, sustainability has been at the very heart of our agenda and we are delighted to have our progress acknowledged”, Newcastle City Council representative Wendy Taylor commented.  Among the £400,000 worth of environmental friendly strategies and technologies that have been integrated into just the council’s own facilities are photovoltaic panels, which convert solar energy into electricity.

The 20th greenest British city was Hull, also in the North of England.  Here – Forum for the Future said – evidence was found that the city was looking to embrace a more sustainable future.