Research conducted by Disruptive Technologies has revealed Copenhagen to be the most sustainable smart city in the world, based upon a range of parameters.
Oslo and Zurich were ranked second and third respectively.
The research took into consideration a range of different criteria with Denmark’s capital coming out on top overall. It led the way in water sustainability, and performed well in the categories of renewable energy, quality of living, transport, environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG), and smart technology adoption.
Oslo came second in Disruptive Technologies’ research, performing well in ESG, smart tech adoption, air quality, and renewable energy. Switzerland’s capital, Zurich, placed third in the ranking, scoring the highest for resident quality of life, and second for renewable energy production, and smart city status.
While the top three in Disruptive Technologies’ sustainable smart cities list might not come as much of a surprise, as the capitals of countries known for their green ethos – what will raise a few eyebrows is London’s ranking in fourth place.
Although not broadly considered to be a green city, London’s sustainability policies – aided by the widespread roll out of public drinking fountains, construction practices, and the move towards a low carbon circular economy – environmentally friendly transport options, ranked the best in the world. London was also noted for its smart city government approach.
Germany and the US were the best performing countries overall in the index, with each having three cities featured in the top 20 ranking. Munich, Berlin and Hamburg were 10th, 11th and 15th while New York, San Francisco and Washington DC were ninth, 12th and 18th.
In total, 11 European cities appeared in the index, versus four in the US, three in Asia and two in Australia.
The research was carried out to discover which cities are already using innovative IoT tech solutions to achieve sustainability goals and was calculated according to various sustainability indices, creating a definitive list of the top 20 green cities globally.
Each city was ranked by a specific set of criteria, with its overall position in the index determined by how it fared in all of the categories across various other sustainability indexes.
The criteria included technological provision, economic and social development, air quality, quality of living, and smart city ecosystem, among other things.
The complete list of the top 20 sustainable smart cities runs as follows:
| City | Ranking |
| Copenhagen | 1 |
| Oslo | 2 |
| Zurich | 3 |
| London | 4 |
| Stockholm | 5 |
| Singapore | 6 |
| Amsterdam | 7 |
| Sydney | 8 |
| New York | 9 |
| Munich | 10 |
| Berlin | 11 |
| San Francisco | 12 |
| Vancouver | 13 |
| Paris | 14 |
| Hamburg | 15 |
| Hong Kong | 16 |
| Taipei City | 17 |
| Washington DC | 18 |
| Brisbane | 19 |
| Barcelona | 20 |
Bengt Johannes Lundberg, CEO of Disruptive Technologies commented: “It’s wonderful to see how many cities are taking the right steps toward sustainability, and how smart tech can be used to reduce environmental impact so effectively. This opens up access to new sustainability goals to countries across the globe.
“With the ability to easily retrofit with new technology, such as IoT sensors, making a change for the better is no longer prohibitively expensive, or dependent upon vast infrastructural changes.
“Through smart monitoring and IoT, governments have the power to transform their cities and it’s great to see so many governments already recognising the importance of investment in all of these areas.”
