Metro Manila remained in the bottom half of leading global design and consultancy Arcadis’ Sustainable Cities Index 2024 at 93rd spot among 100 cities, highlighting the need for significant improvement and opportunities to learn from other leading cities to address sustainability challenges.
Arcadis released the Sustainable Cities Index 2024, revealing an urgent need for accelerated action in tackling climate change and other sustainability challenges. With less than six years remaining until the 2030 deadline for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the report serves as a reminder of the work cities must undertake.
The Arcadis Sustainable Cities Index (SCI) ranks 100 global cities across three pillars of sustainability: Planet, People and Profit. Marking the sixth edition of the report since its inception in 2015, it comprises 67 metrics to highlight our evolving understanding of urban sustainability.
Amsterdam takes top spot as the most sustainable city thanks to strong economic performance, social equity and investments in renewable energy, followed by Rotterdam (2nd), Copenhagen (3rd), Frankfurt (4th) and Munich (5th).
“Our ranking in the Sustainable Cities Index 2024 is a reminder of our long journey ahead and underscores the significant strides we still need to take to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. While challenging, this reality also presents an opportunity for growth, innovation and further collaboration by the public and private sectors to drive the necessary changes to create more a sustainable and equitable city,” said Katherine Ann Resurreccion, service line director for sustainability solutions at Arcadis Philippines.
The report showed that Metro Manila achieved its highest score in the Planet pillar (77th), highlighting efforts towards emission reduction and renewable energy.
Its ranking fell in the People (91st) and Profit (84th) pillars. It finds itself in the “Cities lacking momentum” category within the Progress pillar, suggesting overwhelming challenges and limited progress on sustainability initiatives in recent years.
