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Known for its legendary Golden Gate Bridge, its Painted Ladies and Karl the Fog, the Californian city of San Francisco has plenty to please visitors and residents alike. This includes its green commitments. In fact, a recent ranking named San Francisco as the most sustainable city in the United States.
Known for its legendary Golden Gate Bridge, its Painted Ladies and Karl the Fog, the Californian city of San Francisco has plenty to please visitors and residents alike. This includes its green commitments. In fact, a recent ranking named San Francisco as the most sustainable city in the United States.
Drawn up by the American lawn care company LawnStarter, this ranking is based on an in-depth study of 200 American cities. The criteria taken into account focus on five specific areas: politics, sustainability, pollution, transportation and food production. And the city of San Francisco leads the pack, with an overall score of 77.2 out of 100. But it's perhaps no surprise that the "Golden Gate City" took the top spot in this list. Known for its ambitious zero-waste and recycling policies, massive investments in renewable energy and numerous green spaces, it regularly tops the list of the greenest cities in the United States. In total, six California cities stand out in this ranking. In addition to San Francisco, San Diego and San Jose are in fifth and sixth place, as well as Sacramento (the state capital) and Los Angeles, in ninth and tenth place respectively.
Still, Eastern cities are not to be outdone, with Boston (71.5) and New York (70.6) coming in second and third place in LawnStarter's ranking of the US's most sustainable cities. And, again, it's no surprise that these cities are considered green. Boston has set a goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, notably by addressing buildings and transportation, which account for nearly 99% of Massachusetts' carbon emissions. For its part, the Big Apple is focusing its strategy on green spaces and public transportation. With The Climate Mobilization Act, passed in 2019, New York City has committed to retrofitting its tall buildings (responsible for nearly 70% of all greenhouse gas emissions), as well as eliminating six million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, which is equivalent to taking 1.3 million cars off the road each year.
Texas, meanwhile, comes bottom of the pack, with the three cities that close this ranking all located in the state: Grand Prairie (30.1), Pasadena (28.5) and Mesquite (28.4). Known for being among the least eco-minded and most polluted states in the US, Texas has a long way to go when it comes to going green. But despite having built its reputation on oil, the southern state has made a green shift in recent years, focusing on renewable energy. Today, a quarter of the electricity generated in Texas comes from wind power, which has cut coal consumption in half. The state's residents are also increasingly aware of the urgent need to preserve the planet: according to a University of Houston survey released in late 2020, more than 80% of Texans say that they believe climate change is happening.
