The effect of climate change on how we live, work, play and now invest, develop and occupy has never been higher up the agenda. Occupiers are already making decisions on the sustainability and energy efficiency of the buildings they move in to, and investors are increasingly targeting their money more directly at businesses and assets that place environmental resilience front and centre. But soon that targeting will spread outside of individual assets and look to location. We take a look at the UK’s 12 biggest cities – excluding London – to see which fares best in the race to be the country’s most sustainable.
1 Bristol
Bristol came out top of the EG Sustainable Cities index, with the highest overall score from its consistent placing in the top three against all 15 of our sustainability measures. It was the first of the cities to declare a climate emergency – back in early November 2018 – and has pledged to be net zero carbon by 2030.
It also tops the Thriving Places sustainability score, and has shown the biggest increases in walking and cycling in the city. Bristolians are also among the best recyclers, ranking in the top 12 with a 44.9% recycling rate.
When it comes to building stock, some 10.6% of the city’s assets (commercial and residential) have an EPC rating of A or B, and it boasts some 220 buildings with a BREEAM Excellent rating.
Bristol is among the most densely populated of the 12 cities, with 42.2 people per hectare. It is projected to see its population grow by 11% over the next decade. To make sure it continues to be one of the country’s greenest cities it will need to work even harder to bring its emissions down (3.5 tonnes per capita in 2017), improve its air quality, and deliver an improved EV charging network.
2 Edinburgh
Take a deep breath if you live or work in Edinburgh, as it is the city with the best air quality among the 12 under review, with a fine particulate measure of 6.4 – the same as its sister city Glasgow. It must be something in the Scottish air. That, and that fact that almost a fifth of the city is covered in trees.
The city has also shown the biggest reduction in car use for commuting, according to the most recent usable ONS/Census data, with car usage dropping by just shy of 7.7 percentage points to 40.7%. Cycling rose by 1.3 percentage points during the period under review to 4.3% (the second biggest increase among our top 12), while the amount of people who walk to work has stayed relatively steadfast at 16.3%.
Edinburgh has a reasonably good chance in the climate emergency with one of the lowest levels of predicted population growth over the next decade (7.7%), and one of the lowest population densities among the top 12 – some 19.7 people per hectare.
From a pure property perspective, there is no EPC data for Scotland, but on number of BREEAM Excellent rated buildings Edinburgh comes in 8th, with 101.
3 Manchester
With the Peak District almost on its doorstep and Andy Burnham as mayor, you would expect Manchester to feature reasonably high up on a sustainability index.
In EG’s index, the city gets top marks for the volume of BREEAM Excellent rated buildings in the city, and also scores highly on stock with EPC ratings of A and B. The city has some 331 BREEAM Excellent buildings, and 11.2% of its residential and commercial stock has the highest two EPC ratings.
When it comes to city dwellers, the local authority has done its bit in terms of wellbeing, with Happy City’s Thriving Places index ranking it second in terms of sustainability measures. The city also has the second highest number of operational EV charging points (17), and ranks only behind Newcastle in terms of tree canopy coverage at 21.1%.
However, Manchester was one of the last local authorities to declare a climate emergency – it took until July last year – and has set itself a net zero carbon target of 2038, which is eight years later than most of its peer cities.
4 Leeds
If you’ve got an electric car, Leeds is the city to be whizzing around in. While the UK in general is well behind where it needs to be in terms of infrastructure for electric vehicles – particularly with the government’s new pledge to ban the sale of all petrol and diesel cars by 2032 – Leeds topped the list in our index, with 18 functioning charging points throughout the city.
Leeds was, however, one of the poorest ranked cities when it came to car usage, showing the smallest decline – just 0.73 percentage points. Some 61% people in the city commute by car, with a meagre 1.7% cycling and 11.3% walking to work. The high level of car usage is reflected in Leeds’ air quality, the poorest among the 12, with a fine particulate measure of 12.2 – almost double that of second-placed Edinburgh.
From a real estate perspective, Leeds ranked third in terms of BREEAM Excellent buildings, with 187. However, just 8.8% of its entire building stock currently has an EPC rating of A or B.
Also helping to push Leeds up the index was the relatively small projected increase in population by 2030 – just 6.5% – and a conscientious populace, with more than 38% of them recycling.
5 Cardiff
Cardiffians care. Not only are they safely among the top three when it comes to an increase in walking to work (up 1.6 percentage points to 14.8%) and decrease in car usage (down by 3.8 percentage points to 60.2%), but they are champion recyclers, with a 58% recycling rate – more than 14 percentage points ahead of its nearest greenest rival, the top-ranking Bristol.
The Welsh city boasts 126 BREEAM Excellent rated buildings but lags a little on energy efficiency, with only 9.2% of its entire building stock managing to score an EPC of B or above.
Cardiff declared a climate emergency in March 2019 and has pledged to be net zero carbon by 2030. Despite having one of the highest percentages of tree canopy cover (21%), it has one of the the poorest levels of air quality, with a fine particulate measure of 10.7.
6 Southampton
Despite being a port city, with huge cruisers spewing out all sorts of toxins into the air, Southampton takes the top spot for the lowest level of emissions per capita at 3.1 tonnes.
While a little late to the party in terms of declaring a climate emergency – along with Sheffield, it did not declare until 18 November 2019 – the Hampshire city tops the rankings when it comes to energy efficiency across its built stock. Some 12.4% of Southampton’s commercial and residential buildings have an A or B EPC rating, with only Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle getting anywhere close to the southern city. It does have one of the lowest counts of BREEAM Excellent rated buildings, however, taking 10th place in that ranking with 87.
The city has the highest population density among the 12 in the index with 47.5 people per acre. And that figure is only set to intensify, with Southampton’s population predicted to grow by 7% over the next 10 years.
With a net carbon zero deadline of 2030, the city has to stay focused to remain a sustainable city.
7 Newcastle
Newcastle is a city best known for its industrial background, for its ship building, coal mining and armaments work, not necessarily for its green credentials. But the city tops our rankings in terms of its tree coverage, with some 22% of the city under a tree canopy.
The city falls short when it comes to BREEAM Excellent buildings, with only 79 buildings ranked as such in the city.
It performs better in building energy efficiency, with 11.1% of its commercial and residential stock securing an EPC rating of A or B, placing it fourth in that ranking.
Newcastle is also only one of three cities in our 12 where car usage has gone up. The city shows the biggest increase in commuting by car – albeit only a marginal nudge of 0.23 percentage points, but a nudge in the wrong direction nonetheless. Some 58.7% of people commute by car in the city, compared with 2.23% that cycle and 9.84% that walk. Newcastle also has the weakest EV charging infrastructure with 10 functioning charging points in the city.
However, with one of the smallest population densities (26 people per hectare) and anticipated population growth of 5.5% over the next decade, Newcastle has less of an uphill struggle than some of the faster growing cities in the fight against climate change.
8 Glasgow
Despite sharing the top spot in terms of air quality with its sister city, Glasgow ranks well behind Edinburgh in the overall EG Sustainability Index, with only its small predicted population growth (3%) over the next 10 years, reasonable number of BREEAM Excellent buildings, and relatively good EV charging network really counting for it.
The city sits towards the bottom of the ranking due to its poor tree canopy cover – just 14.9% – a recycling rate of less than one quarter, and slowness in declaring a climate emergency.
However, if COP26 is held in the city, expect to see Glasgow up its game. The local authority has already hardened up its target to be net zero by seven years to 2030, and set out a number of recommendations for the city to deliver on, including a major tree planting programme, a drive to end single-use plastics, and a city-wide network of segregated cycle ways.
9 Nottingham
With a deadline to be net zero carbon in just eight years, Nottingham should be much higher up the rankings. But while targets are great at focusing the mind and establishing a framework for improvement, the proof is in the action.
Nottingham was among the first to declare a climate emergency, just a few months behind first-placed Bristol, in January 2019. The city is also among those with the lowest levels of emissions, registering 3.6 tonnes per capita in 2017.
But aside from that, the city languishes. It has shown the poorest increase in cycle use and among the smallest decrease in car use. With a tree canopy covering just 15.2% of the city, it is only second to Glasgow in a lack of green cover.
Just 8.6% of Nottingham’s entire commercial and residential building stock has an EPC rating of B or higher. It has 139 BREEAM Excellent buildings.
There is a lot of work to do in eight years, but the city says it is up to the challenge. It is exploring switching from freight to electric vehicles in the city centre, making use of untapped heat from water in disused local mines, and improving its recycling rates, which according to our index currently stand at 26.5%.
10 Liverpool
Liverpool’s low level of BREEAM Excellent buildings, marginal increases in cycle usage, lack of tree cover, poor recycling rates and one of the lowest Thriving Places sustainability scores outweighed an early declaration on the climate emergency and a relatively high percentage of energy efficient buildings.
The city ranked second in the proportion of EPC A and B rated buildings at 11.6%. The city also has one of the best EV charging infrastructures of the 12 cities, with 17 functional points.
But, with cycle use at just 1.9% and little sign of improvement over a 10-year period, a recycling rate of 23.6% and a target to be net zero carbon almost a decade after most of its peer cities, it is easy to question just how committed Liverpool might be to being a sustainable city for the future.
The city region says it is already taking action, however. It has launched a £10m green investment fund, has the cleanest bus fleet outside of London, and has made the first investment into a £16m, 600km cycling and walking network across the city.
11 Birmingham
West Midlands mayor Andy Street may have ambitious green intentions for the region, but it is hard to see many areas in EG’s sustainability index where Birmingham is delivering for its dwellers, workers and potential investors.
Just 8% of the city’s commercial and residential stock has an energy efficiency ranking of A or B, it has the lowest number (58) of BREEAM Excellent rated buildings of all of the 12 cities, has seen cycle use and walking decline and car use increase. Almost 65% of people commute to work by car, compared with 1.5% by bike and 8.6% by foot.
The city also has the lowest level of recycling rates among the UK’s 12 major cities at just 22%.
Illegal levels of air pollution were recently recorded around the city’s Perry Park. The poor levels of air quality are known to contribute to more than 1,000 deaths in Birmingham every year.
As host to the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Birmingham will need to sprint out of the starting blocks if it is to get anywhere close to being a sustainable city by 2030, let alone in time for thousands of athletes descending on the city in just two years’ time.
12 Sheffield
The Steel City steals the bottom rung of the EG Sustainable Cities index, with only a decent Thriving Places score and low level of population density (15 people per hectare) counting in its favour.
Sheffield, alongside Southampton, was the last of the cities to declare a climate emergency, waiting until last November to do so. It has one of the lowest levels of A/B EPC rated stock – just 8.5% – and a low recycling rate of just 31%.
The city has also seen the biggest increase in car usage over a 10-year period. While the figure may have only nudged up 0.61 percentage points to reach 63.9%, it bucks the trend with nine out of the 12 cities indexed recording declines in car use.
Air quality in Sheffield is also among the poorest, with a fine particulate measure of 10.6.
However, while the city ranks lowest this year, it has the opportunity to make the biggest gains, and the council is not unaware of the massive task ahead.
Analysis produced for the council last year revealed that for it to make a fair contribution to global climate goals it would need to make sure it did not exceed a budget of 16m tonnes of carbon emissions a year over the next two decades. As current rates for the city stand, it says it would utilise that entire budget in less than six years.
Sustainable cities: The full index
The UK picture: the story so far and the possibility of success
The UK built environment has a vital role to play in responding to the climate emergency, writes James Child. With buildings currently responsible for 39% of global carbon emissions, decarbonising the sector is one of the most cost-effective ways to mitigate the worst effects of climate breakdown.
Power, real estate and transport sectors must each rapidly decarbonise and reach near zero emissions for the UK to reach net zero by or before 2050.
In 2015, emissions from power (122 MtCO2), property (85 MtCO2) and transport (118 MtCO2) represented around 60% of total UK emissions, according to research by Committee on Climate Change. By 2050, this could be reduced to around 3 MtCO2 in total – a whopping 99% decrease.
The UK has seen the most significant reduction in its carbon dioxide emissions out of any of the top five European economic powerhouses
The UK has seen the most significant reduction in its carbon dioxide emissions out of any of the top five European economic powerhouses. Despite the UK being the second largest emitter of the five, it has reduced its CO2 output by 36% since 1990, ahead of the largest economy in Europe, Germany, which has overseen a reduction of 21%.
The net zero carbon target of 2050 is a tough but achievable goal. In real estate and infrastructure it will take a lot of hard collaboration between many invested parties and individuals. In a fragmented industry, common ground will have to found. Valuation modes will have to change – profit and loss will have to be measured in carbon and not in sterling – and with it, those relationships which form the bedrock of the real estate sector.
The owner and occupier relationship, which is so often defined by division, will have to evolve from value perception into a more collaborative pursuit of emissions reduction.
