Toronto ranks among the ten "greenest" cities in North American and the second-most environmentally friendly city in Canada, according to a new report.
The U.S. and Canada Green City Index, released on Thursday by Siemens and conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, lists Toronto ninth overall on its eco-friendly list.
Ontario's capital ranked as high as fourth place when it comes to waste management, thanks to its 44 per cent recycling rate, and fifth on energy consumption, according to the report.
Vancouver was listed as the second-greenest city in North America, behind only San Francisco and one spot ahead of New York City.
Ottawa (12), Calgary (14) and Montreal (19) ranked in the top 20 of overall performance.
Roland Aurich, president and CEO of Siemens Canada, said the study found that Canadian cities have successfully built strong sustainability plans despite lacking the resources of their U.S. counterparts.
"City budgets are as tight as they have ever been, but Canadian mayors by and large, are leading the charge to make their cities more sustainable because they know they can't afford to push these decisions off until tomorrow," Aurich said in a statement on Thursday.
The Siemens index comprises 31 individual categories, including consumption of water and electricity per capita, recycling rates, public transportation and CO2 reduction targets. Twenty-seven metropolitan areas were studied and ranked accordingly.
The top 10 ranking results of the U.S. and Canada Green City Index:
- San Francisco
- Vancouver
- New York City
- Seattle
- Denver
- Boston
- Los Angeles
- Washington, D.C.
- Toronto
- Minneapolis
