Greenest On Earth? ( according to Reader's Digest )

Living Green
Ranking the best (and worst) countries.
By Matthew E. Kahn, PhD, and Fran Lostys
From Reader's Digest
October 2007

Methodology for Countries Rankings
To build our green and livable index, we collected data from the United Nations 2006 Human Development Indicators (HDI) and the 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI). The HDI examines national quality of life and doesn’t merely focus on per-capita income. It takes into account information on life expectancy, educational attainment and national per capita income. The ESI index is based on a collaboration between Yale University and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network at Columbia University, and the World Economic Forum. It tracks a diverse set of indicators that influence environmental sustainability at the national level. For 141 nations, the database offers information on 76 different variables organized into 21 sustainability categories. We included information on 13 of these 21 categories in our index. Six of the thirteen categories have a direct effect on a nation’s daily environmental quality of life, such as air and water quality. The remaining seven categories are key indicators of whether a nation is a good regional and global “citizen” in not exacerbating environmental challenges. Such a nation does not contribute to regional problems such as acid rain, and on the important issue of climate change, has a small ecological footprint and produces relatively few greenhouse gases. A good global citizen also protects biodiversity located within its physical borders. To construct a national ranking based on a nation’s HDI score and on its scores on each of these thirteen categories, we first take all fourteen scores and standardize them. This transforms the data into comparable units. We chose to give the HDI index a weight of 50%, and the subset of ESI variables received a weight of 50%. We weighed each ESI variable equally so each of the thirteen indicators receives a weight of (1/26). Sorting this overall score provides our ranking.

Standardization Formula Used:
Define Xi = nation i's score on variable X
Define Xbar = the sample average for variable X
Define sdX = the sample standard deviation for variable X
Nation i's standardized score = (Xi - Xbar)/sdX

How Countries Rate

Top 5

1. Finland

2. Iceland

3. Norway

4. Sweden

5. Austria

Bottom 5

137. Chad

138. Burkina Faso

139. Sierra Leone

140. Niger

141. Ethiopia

Air Quality
Rates concentration of several pollutants in urban areas

1. Moldova

8. Finland

63. United States

126. Ethiopia

141. Guatemala

The World's Greenest, Most Livable Cities
Using different data, we analyzed 72 major international cities and ranked them in terms of being green and livable. The sources included The Millennium Cities Database for Sustainable Transport (2001) by Jeff Kenworthy and Felix Laube of Australia's Murdoch University, the World Bank's Development Economic Research Group Estimates, and our own reporting on local environmental laws, energy prices, garbage production and disposal, and parkland.

5 Best

1. Stockholm

2. Oslo

3. Munich

4. Paris

5. Frankfurt

5 Worst

68. Bangkok

69. Guangzhou

70. Mumbai

71. Shanghai

72. Beijing

How U.S. Cities Rate

15. New York

22. Washington, D.C.

23. Chicago

26. San Francisco

36. Atlanta

43. Denver

46. Houston

55. San Diego

57. Los Angeles

60. Phoenix

Water Quality
Rates pollutant levels as well as other factors that affect water purity

1. Norway

2. Finland

22. United States

127. Ethiopia

141. Morocco

Greenhouse Gases
Rates carbon emissions per capita and by GDP

1. Chad

18. Ethiopia

75. Finland

107. United States

141. Turkmenistan

Energy Efficiency
Rates conservation efforts and use of renewables such as hydropower

1. D.R. Congo

17. Ethiopia

66. Finland

106. United States

141. Trinidad & Tobago

Environmental Health
Rates childhood mortality, disease; deaths from intestinal infections

1. Austria

8. Finland

125. Ethiopia

16. United States

141. Turkmenistan

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Countries Overall
1. Finland

2. Iceland

3. Norway

4. Sweden

5. Austria

6. Switzerland

7. Ireland

8. Australia

9. Uruguay

10. Denmark

11. Canada

12. Japan

13. Israel

14. Italy

15. Slovenia

16. France

17. Netherlands

18. Portugal

19. New Zealand

20. Greece

21. Germany

22. Latvia

23. United States

24. Lithuania

25. United Kingdom

26. Belgium

27. Argentina

28. Croatia

29. Spain

30. Hungary

31. Albania

32. Estonia

33. Slovakia

34. Costa Rica

35. South Korea

36. Cuba

37. Belarus

38. Czech Republic

39. Bosnia and Herzegovina

40. Brazil

41. Panama

42. Armenia

43. Chile

44. Paraguay

45. United Arab Emirates

46. Macedonia

47. Bulgaria

48. Poland

49. Kuwait

50. Oman

51. Russia

52. Peru

53. Colombia

54. Malaysia

55. Guyana

56. Romania

57. Trinidad & Tobago

58. Georgia

59. Kazakhstan

60. Moldova

61. Thailand

62. Tunisia

63. Mexico

64. Libya

65. Ukraine

66. Sri Lanka

67. Lebanon

68. Venezuela

69. Ecuador

70. Turkey

71. Jordan

72. Algeria

73. Kyrgyzstan

74. Azerbaijan

75. Bolivia

76. Gabon

77. Dominican Republic

78. Syria

79. El Salvador

80. Saudi Arabia

81. Jamaica

82. Indonesia

83. Iran

84. China

85. Nicaragua

86. Namibia

87. Philippines

88. Egypt

89. Mongolia

90. Viet Nam

91. Myanmar

92. Honduras

93. Botswana

94. Turkmenistan

95. Tajikistan

96. South Africa

97. Guatemala

98. Cambodia

99. Uzbekistan

100. Bhutan

101. Laos

102. Morocco

103. Ghana

104. India

105. Congo

106. Cameroon

107. Uganda

108. Nepal

109. Papua New Guinea

110. Gambia

111. Bangladesh

112. Madagascar

113. Senegal

114. Togo

115. Pakistan

116. Kenya

117. Rwanda

118. Guinea

119. Zimbabwe

120. Zambia

121. Nigeria

122. Sudan

123. Tanzania

124. Benin

125. Central Africa Republic

126. Malawi

127. Mauritania

128. Yemen

129. Angola

130. Côte d'Ivoire

131. Democratic Republic of the Congo

132. Haiti

133. Mali

134. Guinea-Bissau

135. Mozambique

136. Burundi

137. Chad

138. Burkina Faso

139. Sierra Leone

140. Niger

141. Ethiopia
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Cities Overall
1. Stockholm, Sweden

2. Oslo, Norway

3. Munich, Germany

4. Paris, France

5. Frankfurt, Germany

6. Stuttgart, Germany

7. Lyon, France

8. Dusseldorf, Germany

9. Nantes, France

10. Copenhagen, Denmark

11. Geneva, Switzerland

12. Zurich, Switzerland

13. Glasgow, United Kingdom

14. Barcelona, Spain

15. New York, United States

16. Brussels, Belgium

17. Hamburg, Germany

18. Hong Kong, PR China

19. Newcastle, United Kingdom

20. Tokyo, Japan

21. Helsinki, Finland

22. Washington, D.C., United States

23. Chicago, United States

24. Vancouver, Canada

25. Dortmund, Germany

26. San Francisco, United States

27. London, United Kingdom

28. Perth, Australia

29. Melbourne, Australia

30. Manchester, United Kingdom

31. Graz, Austria

32. Berlin, Germany

33. Ottawa, Canada

34. Wellington, New Zealand

35. Amsterdam, Netherlands

36. Atlanta, United States

37. Marseille, France

38. Vienna, Austria

39. Rome, Italy

40. Sydney, Australia

41. Prague, Czech Republic

42. Brisbane, Australia

43. Denver, United States

44. Berne, Switzerland

45. Singapore, Singapore

46. Houston, United States

47. Bologna, Italy

48. Montreal, Canada

49. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

50. Toronto, Canada

51. Cape Town, South Africa

52. Seoul, South Korea

53. Milan, Italy

54. Curitiba, Brazil

55. San Diego, United States

56. Madrid, Spain

57. Los Angeles, United States

58. Budapest, Hungary

59. Calgary, Canada

60. Phoenix, United States

61. Johannesburg, South Africa

62. Sao Paulo, Brazil

63. Athens, Greece

64. Tel Aviv, Israel

65. Chennai, India

66. Cracow, Poland

67. Taipei, Taiwan

68. Bangkok, Thailand

69. Guangzhou, PR China

70. Mumbai, India

71. Shanghai, PR China

72. Beijing, PR China

source: http://www.rd.com/content/best-places-to-live-green/1/