Sustainable Travel

Top Green Cities: Where to Travel Green is part of our Back to School: Green Travel Basics series.

What are the top green cities in the world? There are plenty of others in the publishing and green world who have created scientifically calculated (and not so scientifically calculated) lists of top green cities. So I’ve put together an ultimate list of the top green cities.

Unfortunately, most of these lists are United States only lists. So I’ll link to the World lists first:
Top Green Cities in the World

According to Grist:

1. Reykjavik, Iceland
2. Portland, Oregon, U.S.
3. Curitiba, Brazil
4. Malmö, Sweden
5. Vancouver, Canada
6. Copenhagen, Denmark
7. London, England
8. San Francisco, California, U.S.
9. Bahía de Caráquez, Ecuador
10. Sydney, Australia
11. Barcelona, Spain
12. Bogotá, Colombia
13. Bangkok, Thailand
14. Kampala, Uganda
15. Austin, Texas, U.S.

According to Treehugger:

1. Portland, OR
2. Freiburg, Germany
3. Zermatt, Switzerland
4. Montreal, Quebec, Canada
5. Austin, Texas, USA

And my own contribution to the world cities list would be the World’s Greenest City: Masdar in the United Arab Emirates, which is not yet completed, but could be the world’s greenest city when it is.
Top Green Cities in the United States

According to Popular Science

1. Portland, OR
2. San Francisco, CA
3. Boston, MA
4. Oakland, CA
5. Eugene, OR
6. Cambridge, MA
7. Berkeley, CA
8. Seattle, WA
9. Chicago, IL
10. Austin, TX

According to Best Places.net

1. Burlington-South Burlington, VT
2. Ithaca, NY
3. Corvallis, OR
4. Springfield, MA
5. Wenatchee, WA
6. Charlottesville, VA
7. Boulder, CO
8. Madison, WI
9. Binghamton, NY
10. Champaign-Urbana, IL

National Resources Defense Council (large cities only)

1. Seattle, WA
2. San Francisco, CA
3. Portland, OR
4. Oakland, CA
5. San Jose, CA
6. Austin, TX
7. Sacramento, CA
8. Boston, MA
9. Denver, CO
10. Chicago, IL

So there you have it - the top green cities in the US and in the world. You can see that the top cities remain fairly consistent across all rankings. So if you’re looking for the greenest destination, check out some of the major cities on the West Coast.

Source: Go Green Travel Green