Phoenix ranks high for sustainable development in national cities report
Phoenix is among the top 10% of U.S. cities for sustainability and is one of the top five cities for sustainable development, according to a new report.
The 2024 Most Sustainable Cities report from LawnStarter ranked Phoenix No. 46 overall out of the 500 largest cities nationwide in an analysis that looked at 39 total metrics in five categories that included policies, development, pollution, transportation and food production.
Phoenix — which recently ranked No. 67 in the U.S. News & World Report Best Places to Live report — got the most help from its fifth-place individual ranking in the sustainable development ranking, where it was surpassed only by Los Angeles, New York, San Diego and Sacramento, California. The category considered metrics such as number of zero-energy buildings and recycling facilities, solar energy potential and more.
On the other hand, Phoenix’s worst rankings were No. 303 for policy and No. 283 for pollution. Policy takes into account financial incentives and number of measures supporting renewables and energy efficiency, as well as number of clean city coalitions and other items. The pollution category looks at greenhouse gas emissions, quantity of waste in landfills, gallons of fuel used per auto commuter, population density and more.
For the transportation and food production categories, Phoenix ranked No. 107 in each. Transportation considered access to jobs by transit; the share of workers who walk, bike, carpool or ride public transit to their jobs; and several other factors. Food production considered access to grocery stores and farmers markets, stores and restaurants offering sustainably certified products, and more.
A separate study this week showed that several Arizona cities are seeing reduced commute times.
Phoenix’s results reflect a broader trend noted in the report, which is that larger cities tend to have the best infrastructure for green lifestyles but also are among the most polluted.
Arizona cities ranked lower than Phoenix include Tucson at No. 93, Scottsdale at No. 116, Tempe at No. 133, Flagstaff at No. 206, Glendale at No. 253, Chandler at No. 272, Gilbert at No. 317, Surprise at 359, Peoria at No. 417, Goodyear at No. 445, Buckeye at No. 446, Avondale at No. 461, Yuma at No. 479.
Of those, Scottsdale was the only Arizona city besides Phoenix with a top-25 individual category ranking. Scottsdale was No. 22 for sustainable development.
The national leaders overall were New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and San Diego.
For its analysis, LawnStarter used data from 20 different public and private sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.