NYC tops list of 'greenest' cities in U.S.

Dive Brief:

Personal finance website WalletHub has ranked what it considers the 100 greenest cities of 2015, and New York, Portland, OR, San Francisco, Washington and Honolulu ranked highest, while Baton Rouge, LA, and Gilbert, AZ, came in last.
WalletHub compared 100 U.S. cities across four dimensions — environmental quality, "greenness" of transportation, "greenness" of energy sources, and green lifestyle and local policies — and 13 metrics like water quality, bike score, percentage of electricity from renewable sources and green jobs.
WalletHub compiled the list to highlight cities that encourage environmentally friendly lifestyles, but, ironically, had to leave green indicator "recycling" out of the calculation because it found that the types and sizes of recycling facilities varied too widely to compare adequately.

Dive Insight:

It came as no surprise that New York City topped the 2015 list. Mayor Bill de Blasio has been taking major steps with his "One City Built to Last" initiative, which includes a new program announced last month that assists private landlords with refurbishing their buildings for energy efficiency, clean energy and water conservation. So far, the city, on a mission to reduce emissions, has gained support for that "retrofit accelerator" plan from the real estate industry.

Last month, a U.S. Green Building Council study found the green building industry will account for more than one-third of jobs in the nation's construction industry — 3.3 million — and $190.3 billion worth of labor earnings by 2018.

Along with the study, WalletHub interviewed some experts about whether cities should go green, and all agreed that cities have room to "green up" in some way.

Ujjayant Chakravorty, professor of economics at Tufts University said, "Cities should become green for many reasons. Green cities are better, healthier places to live, they increase property values and benefit residents, and by developing green practices such as renewables and urban gardens, they can connect residents with their immediate environment."