Wellington ranks best in world for environmental security by UK's Economist

Multimedia Journalist·NZ Herald·

21 Sep, 2021 09:00 PM2 mins to read

Copenhagen claimed first place for the 2021 Safe Cities Index. Photo / Steven Lasry, Unsplash

Wellington has been named the top city for environmental security by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

As for overall safety, the capital was ranked seventh, closely following Tokyo and Amsterdam, but beating out iconic destinations such as Hong Kong, Melbourne and Stockholm.

First launched in 2015, this year's Safe Cities Index ranked 60 cities using 76 indicators across digital, health, personal-security, infrastructure and environmental sectors.

The windy city came in 7th place, with a score of 79.0. Photo / PIVOT Photography

The global policy benchmarking tool combines these findings with in-depth interviews with experts and wide-ranging research to provide each city with a score out of 100.

To reflect the changing nature of urban safety, the "environmental pillar" was introduced this year, in which Wellington placed top of the list. The report considering a city's climate risk management and carbon emission reduction plans as well as policies concerning the improvement and protection of natural environments.

"The priority that urban residents and officials assign to environmental security has risen markedly as covid-19 serves as a stark warning of unexpected crises," said this year's whitepaper published with the Safe City Index 2021.

However, what made cities like Wellington stand out from the rest was not just having strong environmental policies, but successfully implementing them to achieve results.

The EIU reported that, despite aspirational plans and policies, many high-income cities failed when it came to implementation. The official whitepaper suggesting the keys to success are replacing fractured approaches to environmental issues for unified ones and collaborating with residents rather than directing them.