The Economist Intelligence Unit (2011) African green city index

The Economist Intelligence Unit (2011) African green city index


African Green City Index
Assessing the environmental performance of Africa’s major cities

A research project conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored by Siemens


Accra, Ghana

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Nairobi, Kenya

Pretoria, South Africa

Alexandria, Egypt
Cairo, Egypt

Cape Town, South Africa

Casablanca, Morocco

Tunis, Tunisia

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Durban, South Africa

Lagos, Nigeria

Luanda, Angola

Maputo, MozambiqueJohannesburg, South Africa

Contents

004 Expert advisory panel

006 Introduction

008 Results

010 Overall key findings

016 Key findings from the
categories

016 Energy and CO2
016 Land use
017 Transport
018 Waste
018 Water
019 Sanitation
019 Air quality
019 Environmental governance

020 “Far from a nice-to-have
option”: Green policies are
central to economic and social
progress in African cities
An interview with Nicholas You,
urban sustainability expert

022 Best green initiatives
022 Energy and CO2

Reducing the carbon footprint
in Cape Town

023 Land use
Combining social, economic
and environmental revitalisation
in Johannesburg

024 Transport
Investing billions in the public
transit network in Cairo

025 Waste
Lagos turns waste into wealth

026 Water and sanitation
International agencies invest
in African cities

027 Environmental governance
Imagining a more sustainable
Durban

028 Methodology

African Green City Index

2 3

032 City portraits
032 Accra, Ghana
036 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
040 Alexandria, Egypt
044 Cairo, Egypt
048 Cape Town, South Africa
052 Casablanca, Morocco
056 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
060 Durban, South Africa
064 Johannesburg, South Africa
068 Lagos, Nigeria
072 Luanda, Angola
076 Maputo, Mozambique
080 Nairobi, Kenya
084 Pretoria, South Africa
088 Tunis, Tunisia


4 5

A panel of global experts in urban environmental sustainability advised the

Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) in developing the methodology for the African Green City Index.

The EIU would like to thank the panel for their time and valuable insight.

Mary Jane C. Ortega
Secretary General CITYNET

Mary Jane C. Ortega is the former mayor of the city of San Fernando, Philippines, and served the city from 1998
to 2007. She is now the secretary general of CITYNET, a network of 119 member cities and NGOs that works to
improve living conditions in human settlements in Asia-Pacific. She was the charter president of the Solid Waste
Management Association of the Philippines and was recently re-elected as president. Ms Ortega was a member of
the executive committee of the United Nations Advisory Council on Local Authorities (UNACLA) from 2000 to 2007
and received the UN Habitat Scroll of Honour Award in 2000. She was recently elected member of the board of
directors of Clean Air Initiatives-Asia (CAI-ASIA).

Hiroaki Suzuki
Lead Urban Specialist and Eco2 Team Leader,
Corporate Finance Economics and Urban Department, World Bank

Hiroaki Suzuki has more than 20 years of operational experience in the infrastructure sector and public sector at
the World Bank. Having worked in the East Asia and Pacific region as East Asia urban sector leader and China urban
sector coordinator for the last five years, he joined the bank’s Corporate Finance Economics and Urban Department
in 2009 as lead urban specialist and Eco2 team leader. Mr Suzuki is the main author of “Eco2 cities: Ecological Cities
as Economic Cities” (www.worldbank.org/eco2).

Pablo Vaggione
Founder, Design Convergence Urbanism

Pablo Vaggione is an urban specialist with over 15 years of experience. His cross-sector and multidisciplinary
approach provides cities and actors in urban development with strategically integrated plans to respond to the
challenges of sustainable urbanisation. He has worked in East and South-East Asia, Western Europe, and Latin and
North America in the preparation of city develop ment strategies, plans for the regeneration of historic urban areas,
and blueprints for new districts. He is the lead author of the upcoming UN Habitat Guide for City Leaders on Urban
Planning. Mr Vaggione was part of the team of the city of Madrid that received the World Leadership Award in 2007.
Between 2007 and 2010 he served as the secretary general of the International Society of City and Regional
Planners (ISOCARP), a professional organisation of planners from 70 countries.

Sebastian Veit
Senior Climate Economist African Development Bank

Sebastian Veit is senior climate economist at the African Development Bank. He is currently serving as the
specialist on energy, environment and climate change in the bank’s west Africa region, based in Dakar. While at the
organisation he has focused on green growth strategies in Africa and renewable energy issues. In 2007 Mr Veit was
a consultant to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and from 2004 to 2007 he was a
consultant with the World Bank in Washington DC. At the World Bank he specialised in energy and water.

David Wilk
Climate Change Lead Specialist, Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Unit,
Inter-American Development Bank

David Wilk joined the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in early 2001 as an urban environmental senior
specialist, with extensive international experience in the fields of land use and environmental planning, watershed
management, sustainable urban transport, and environmental assessment of urban and regional infrastructure
projects. At IDB, Mr Wilk led the development of the Environment Strategy and Policy (2003), the Sustainable
Energy and Climate Change Initiative (SECCI) and the SECCI Funds (2007-08). More recently, Mr Wilk spearheaded
the Climate Change Strategy (2011), a number of climate change policy-based loans in Mexico and Peru, and
technical assistance programs for institutional strengthening and technical support for climate change adaptation
and mitigation throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. He is part of the Sustainable and Emerging Cities
Platform that will promote sustainable actions and climate resilience in mid-size cities in the region.

Nicholas You
Chairman, Steering Committee of the World Urban Campaign, UN Habitat

Nicholas You is chairman of, amongst others, the Cities and Climate Change Commission of the World Future Coun -
cil, and the Assurance Group of the Urban Infrastructure Initiative of the World Business Council for Sustainable
Development. After devoting a large part of his professional career to helping urban poor communities, he initiated
UN Habitat’s Best Practices and Local Leadership Programme as a means to help cities and urban communities learn
from each others’ success stories in meeting the social, economic and environmental challenges arising from rapid
urbanisation. He was subsequently appointed senior policy and strategic planning adviser of UN Habitat, and
spearheaded a major institu tional reform plan. To help implement that plan, he was asked in January 2009 to lead
UN Habitat’s World Urban Campaign. Upon his retirement from the UN in July 2010, some 50 partners representing
public, private and civil society institutions world wide elected him as chairman of the Campaign’s Steering Commit -
tee. Mr You was recently appointed as a member of the board of the African Medical Research Foundation (AMREF).

Expert advisory panel
African Green City Index


6 7

Introduction
African Green City Index

Africa’s urban transition –
approaching a tipping point
Africa is urbanising faster than any continent in
the world, a distinction it has held for several
decades. It started with a low absolute number
of city dwellers, however, so even after large
percentage increases in urban migration, it still
remained mostly rural. That balance is starting
to shift and the continent is approaching a tip-
ping point. The number of urban residents more
than doubled in the last two decades to over
412 million and they currently account for 40%
of Africa’s population, according to the United
Nations Population Division. Within the next
decade there will be more urban residents in
Africa than in any other continent except Asia.
And by 2035 the total number of those living in
the continent’s growing cities is expected to
double again to 870 million, at which point half
of all Africans will live in urban areas.

Growth will be particularly strong south of
the Sahara. Lagos and Kinshasa, currently the
18th and 29th most populous cities in the world,
will by 2025 have vaulted to 11thand 12thplace,

respectively, easily surpassing Africa’s current
largest city, Cairo. In percentage terms, medi-
um-sized cities will grow even faster. In the next
ten to 15 years the populations of Dar es Salaam
and Nairobi could double, and Addis Ababa is
expected to grow by over 60%. More generally,
according to UN Habitat*, cities in sub-Saharan
Africa with a current population of 1 million or
more will grow at an average rate of 32% over
the next ten years. The only exceptions are the
South African cities and Congo-Brazzaville (capi-
tal of the Republic of Congo).

Such expansion would be difficult to manage
even with the best urban governance, yet too
often African cities suffer from unplanned
sprawl. The region has the highest proportion of
city dwellers in informal settlements in the
world. Infrastructure is stretched to its limits,
with an urgent need for more reliable supplies of
electricity and water, and services such as waste
management and sanitation. According to UN
Habitat’s recent report on the state of African
cities, “Not a single African government can
afford to ignore the ongoing rapid urban transi-

tion. Cities must become priority areas for public
policies.”

With African governments focussing on so
many urgent challenges – from health and
security to unemployment and inequality –
some may question whether they have the time
or resources to devote to the daunting project
of improving urban environments. However,
those involved intimately with the continent’s
development over the years say that action on
environmental sustainability must go hand-in-
hand with solutions to the continent’s social
and economic problems. “Sustainable develop-
ment po licies at the city level in Africa are far
from being a ‘nice-to-have option’,” says
Nicholas You, chairman of the Steering Com-
mittee of UN Habitat’s World Urban Campaign,
in an interview for this report. “These policies
will ultimately determine Africa’s capacity to
ensure sustainable development for society as a
whole.”

The African Green City Index, a research pro-
ject conducted by the Economist Intelligence
Unit, sponsored by Siemens, seeks to give gov-

ernments and other stakeholders in the region
insight and understanding into these pressing
environmental challenges. To do so, it measures
and assesses the environmental performance of
15 major African cities across a range of criteria,
and highlights green policies and projects that
other cities can learn from.

This report presents the most important find-
ings and highlights from the Index. It is divided
into five parts: First, it examines the overall key
findings. Second, it looks into the key findings
from the eight individual categories in the Index:
energy and CO2, land use, transport, waste,
water, sanitation, air quality and environmental
governance. Third, the report presents the
highlights of a variety of green initiatives under
way across the continent. Fourth, it gives a
detailed description of the methodology used to
create the Index. Finally, an in-depth profile for
each city outlines its particular strengths, chal-
lenges and ongoing environmental initiatives.
These profiles rightly constitute the bulk of the
report because the aim of the study is to share
valuable experience.

What the Index measures:
Evaluating cities with limited data

The 15 cities selected for the African Green City Index are capital cities as well as leading business

centres chosen for their size and importance. The cities were picked independently rather than relying

on requests from city governments to be included, in order to enhance the Index’s credibility and

comparability. Another decisive factor in the selection was the availability of data. Some large popula-

tion centres, such as Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with a population of roughly

9 million people, and Khartoum in Sudan, with about 5 million, or Algiers, Algeria, at about 3 million,

had to be excluded due to a significant lack of available information.

The methodology, described in detail in a separate section in this report, has been developed by

the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) in cooperation with Siemens. It relies on the expertise of both

organisations, a panel of outside experts, and the experience from producing Green City Indexes for

Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the US and Canada. There are 25 individual indicators for each city,

and these indicators are often based on multiple data points. Each city is assessed in eight categories

and placed within a performance band to indicate its relative results. The process is transparent,

consistent, replicable, and reveals sources of best practice.

Obtaining consistent, reliable and accurate data on environmental performance across Africa is a

substantial challenge. For example, key figures such as population numbers are disputed and accurate

urban GDP figures do not exist for many leading cities. The EIU considered carefully whether to include

each of the 12 quantitative indicators that appear in the African Green City Index. These data points

came from transparent, reliable sources. The EIU chose indicators according to whether they could be

compared across all 15 cities in the Index. For example, concentrations of air pollutants such as nitro-

gen oxide, sulphur dioxide or particulate matter may be available for some cities, but because they

were not available for all 15 cities, they were excluded. The same was true for indicators included in

previous regional Green City Indexes, such as the share of waste properly disposed of or the share of

wastewater treated in the city. In the energy category, only electricity consumption figures from the

electricity grid were available and could be incorporated. This only reflects part of the overall energy

consumption. For example, diesel generators are common in many Index cities to generate electricity

during blackouts or in the absence of access to the grid, but no comprehensive figures about this

form of energy consumption exist. Thus, the Index does not include the amount of electricity or

CO2 emissions produced by diesel generators. Regarding informal settlements, it could not always be

determined whether and to what extent informal settlements were covered in published data sources.

In the end, the EIU made the judgment that it was necessary to include the best available data in an

environmental index of African cities, even if coverage of informal settlements could not

be exactly or uniformly defined. Full details are available in the methodology section.

Thirteen of the 25 indicators in the African Green City Index are qualitative assessments of each city’s

policies, regulations and ambitions – for example, its commitment to reducing the environmental

impact of energy consumption, developing green spaces and conservation areas, reducing congestion

or recycling waste. Data limitations in Africa mean that the African Green City Index relies more on

qualitative assessments of policies than previous regional Indexes. Policies indicate commitments to

reduce environmental impacts and for that reason, the rankings in the African Green City Index are

weighted more toward an assessment of a city’s potential future environmental performance than

previous Indexes.

Finally, data limitations for African cities raise an important point for the future of sustainability

efforts on the continent as a whole. Effective policy making depends on accurate information and

improved information gathering must be a priority along with other sustainability efforts. Africa-based

specialists agree: “There is a need to set up programmes to develop, access and use environmental

data on African cities,” says Alfred Omenya, professor of architecture at the University of Nairobi and

an expert in urban planning and climate change. “Currently, this data is captured in a fragmented way

by all sorts of agencies. More importantly, there is no system to ensure it can be used to deal with

urban sustainability challenges.”

* UN Habitat, The state of African cities 2010: Governance, inequality and urban land markets, November 2010.


8 9

Category results

well below average above well
below average average above

average average

Cape Town

Durban

Maputo

Nairobi

Pretoria

Tunis

Alexandria

Cairo

Dar es Salaam

Luanda

Accra

Casablanca

Johannesburg

Addis Ababa

Lagos

Energy and CO2

well below average above well
below average average above

average average

Luanda Alexandria

Dar es Salaam

Lagos

Maputo

Accra

Cairo

Nairobi

Pretoria

Tunis

Addis Ababa

Casablanca

Durban

Johannesburg

Cape Town

Land use

well below average above well
below average average above

average average

Luanda Accra

Addis Ababa

Dar es Salaam

Maputo

Nairobi

Alexandria

Casablanca

Lagos

Cairo

Cape Town

Durban

Johannesburg

Pretoria

Tunis

Transport

well below average above well
below average average above

average average

Dar es Salaam

Pretoria

Cairo Accra

Addis Ababa

Casablanca

Johannesburg

Luanda

Maputo

Nairobi

Cape Town

Durban

Lagos

Tunis

Alexandria

Waste

well below average above well
below average average above

average average

Luanda Alexandria

Maputo

Accra

Cairo

Dar es Salaam

Johannesburg

Lagos

Nairobi

Pretoria

Tunis

Addis Ababa

Cape Town

Casablanca

Durban

Water

well below average above well
below average average above

average average

Dar es Salaam

Maputo

Addis Ababa

Pretoria

Alexandria

Cairo

Cape Town

Johannesburg

Lagos

Luanda

Nairobi

Accra

Casablanca

Durban

Tunis

Sanitation

well below average above well
below average average above

average average

Addis Ababa

Dar es Salaam

Luanda

Maputo

Nairobi

Alexandria

Cairo

Lagos

Accra

Cape Town

Casablanca

Durban

Johannesburg

Pretoria

Tunis

Air quality

well below average above well
below average average above

average average

Luanda Addis Ababa

Dar es Salaam

Maputo

Nairobi

Alexandria

Cairo

Casablanca

Lagos

Tunis

Cape Town

Durban

Johannesburg

Pretoria

Accra

Environmental governance

well below average above well
below average average above

average average

Overall results

Dar es Salaam

Maputo

Luanda

Nairobi

Addis Ababa

Alexandria

Cairo

Lagos

Pretoria

Accra

Cape Town

Casablanca

Durban

Johannesburg

Tunis

Results
African Green City Index


10 11

Overall key findings
African Green City Index

There is no single leader in the
Index. Six cities score above
average, with South African and
North African cities outperforming
the rest.

None of the 15 cities in the Index placed in the
highest possible band of “well above average”,
suggesting that even the best-performing cities
in the continent have room to improve their
environmental footprint. Among the six “above
average” cities, two groups, those from South
Africa and those from North Africa, perform bet-
ter than sub-Saharan cities (excluding South
Africa), for reasons set out below.

South African cities: good with governance
Three of the six above average cities are South
African – Cape Town, Durban and Johannes-
burg. On quantifiable metrics such as electricity
consumption, waste generation and water con-

larly, it places well above average for the
strength of its policies to contain urban sprawl
and protect green space. Durban and Johannes-
burg also generally perform well for environ-
mental policies. As the city portraits in this
report demonstrate, when it comes to gover-
nance, the South African cities have strong local
structures in place. While in many of the North
African and sub-Saharan African cities policy is
run from afar at the national or provincial level,
South African cities have city departments,
often under the direction of a city council, to
directly oversee and implement policies at the
urban level.

Africa experts say South Africa’s attention to
environmental policies can be attributed mainly
to its level of economic development. Carole
Rakodi, Africa specialist and professor emeritus
at the University of Birmingham’s School of Gov-
ernment and Society, notes that the environmen-
tal challenges of South African cities are starting

to resemble those more familiar in Western
countries. “They have working services and can
solve the most basic problems – water supply,
waste management, human health, that whole
round of things that go together,” she says. “Now
they are starting with the next round of sustain-
ability problems.” These include the need for
more environmentally conscious re source con-
sumption, smarter planning, limiting the reliance
on dirty fossil fuels and increasing recycling.

Professor David Simon, head of the geogra-
phy department at the University of London,
and expert on urban sustainability in Africa and
other developing regions, adds that stronger
environmental policies have been a key part of
the post-Apartheid reforms. “South African cities
have been able to use the political capital of
post-Apartheid reconstruction to address the
environmental problems that were part of that
legacy,” he says. These problems included delib-
erately designing black townships on the periph-

eries of cities, far away from basic municipal ser-
vices.

North African cities: Connecting residents
to water and power
Although North African cities do nearly as well
as South African ones in overall performance,
their strengths are different. In policy terms,
they tend to do slightly worse. In the environ-
mental governance category, for example, all of
the South African cities score above average and
all of the North African ones are average. How-
ever, regarding access to services North African
cities tend to do better. The two above average
cities in the Index from North Africa, Casablanca
and Tunis, for example, are very strong on
access to electricity, potable water and sanita-
tion, with rates approaching 100%. Cairo and
Alexandria, although average overall, have
strong access figures as well. Tunis in particular
has been proactive in recent years in connecting

Overall results:
South African

and North
African cities

lead the Index

well below average above well
below average average above

average average

Dar es Salaam

Maputo

Luanda

Nairobi

Addis Ababa

Alexandria

Cairo

Lagos

Pretoria

Accra

Cape Town

Casablanca

Durban

Johannesburg

Tunis

South African cities North African cities Sub-Saharan cities

sumption, none of them perform very well and
indeed they have among the highest CO2 emis-
sions from electricity in the Index, mainly
because they remain highly dependent on coal
to produce electricity.

But they more than make up for drawbacks
on consumption with consistently strong envi-

ronmental policies – the Index’s qualitative
assessments of the strategies, codes and plans
to monitor and improve the urban environment.
Cape Town, for example, has established a com-
prehensive Energy and Climate Change Action
Plan to improve green performance in many of
the eight Index categories. In land use particu-


households to the electricity grid. The city has
also invested heavily in its light rail and subur-
ban trains. In Casablanca, the authorities hand-
ed over management of key services such as
electricity provision, water, waste management
and sanitation services to private contractors in
1997. The move has not been without its critics
but the city can point to successes in access and
service quality over that time. The uprisings
around the Arab world have also led to a
renewed sense of optimism that more demo-
cratic, responsive governments will continue to
accelerate improvements.

Most sub-Saharan African cities
struggle in the Index, reflecting
different challenges compared
with their neighbours in the north
and south.

In a different league
None of the sub-Saharan cities (excluding South
Africa) except Accra finished better than “aver-
age” overall. Two cities, Dar es Salaam and
Maputo, were even “well below average”. They
face social, economic and environmental prob-
lems that are in a different league from North
African and South African cities. Dar has enor-

mous environmental challenges to overcome,
particularly in waste and sanitation. In the
absence of regular waste collection, many resi-
dents simply burn their waste. And although
more than half of the population has access to
some form of sanitation, only an estimated 7%
of households are connected to the sewer sys-
tem and only an estimated 10% of sewage is
treated before being released. Likewise, in
Maputo a significant percentage of the popula-
tion lacks access to basic services for water,
waste management or sanitation. These two
cities also have among the highest percentage
of their populations living in informal settle-
ments, at an estimated 70% for Maputo and an
estimated 68% for Dar, compared with the Index
average of 38%.

Africa specialists confirm that these issues exist
across the sub-Saharan region to varying de -
grees. Ms Rakodi notes that for many cities in
the region the problems include “not having a
working water supply, extremely poor sanita-
tion, and a complete inability to deal with waste
management or manage the process of land use
change.” She adds that in contrast, South
African municipalities have a high level of auton-
omy and considerable resources of their own.

Some North African cities are similar. In sub-
Saharan Africa, she says, “city governments on
the whole lack autonomy and, even when they
have it, city politics are unstable and shaky.”

Brown versus green
In the sub-Saharan region, the environmental
emphasis is on the so-called “brown agenda”,
which focuses on human health and poverty
reduction, as distinguished from the “green
agenda”, which looks to improve the sustainabil-
ity of ecosystems. The two agendas should go
hand in hand, as Mr You of UN Habitat’s World
Urban Campaign (see interview, page 20) and
others have pointed out, but Mr Simon of the
University of London notes that the immediate
demands of survival in sub-Saharan cities tend
to prevent a focus on sustainability. “One reason
why environmental issues are often not priori-
tised by political elites is that, by definition, sus-
tainability is a long-term issue, requiring invest-
ment now for a longer-term benefit in a resource-
constrained environment. If you have a queue
outside your office with people struggling to
meet basic needs of food, shelter, and water,
those sorts of immediate priorities trump
longer-term ones.” In addition, the climate
change agenda is sometimes viewed with suspi-

Index results: Spotlight on Accra

Although six of the seven sub-Saharan cities (excluding South Africa) finish average, below or well

below average overall, Accra comes in above average. What sets it apart from other sub-Saharan

cities?

Accra’s standout category in the Index is environmental governance, where it ranks well above

average relative to its Index peers. It has strong scores for environmental management, with struc-

tures in place for local assemblies to work with the national government in implementing policies.

It also scores relatively well for environmental monitoring and policies on public participation.

In addition, the city has policies in place addressing air quality and sanitation, and has a high rate

of renewable energy – 74% comes from hydropower.

Africa specialists said that although policies may be in place for the city, which is an indicator of

their performance in the future, they are not necessarily a complete reflection of the current situa-

tion on the ground. A recent UN Habitat profile of the city found that it suffers from an “urban

divide” between the rich and poor. Policies, it seems, have not always turned into practical action,

especially in terms of delivering municipal services to poorer residents.

However, Accra has received considerable outside investment in transport, water and sanitation

infrastructure from the World Bank and the European Commission in recent years. Residents in

Accra’s informal settlements are also more likely to have “tenure” (a form of land ownership),

which provides more access to municipal services and encourages residents to upgrade facilities

themselves. Although Mr Omenya of the University of Nairobi would caution against calling Accra

“above average” on anything but the relative scale of the Index, he says, "Accra does have unique

attributes that may enable it to outperform most of the sub-Saharan African cities, especially be-

cause of security of tenure."

cion when it comes from outside Africa. Still, the
effects of climate change on Africa – from im pacts
on crop production to natural disasters – could
be devastating in the long term, and the chal-
lenge will be to find the right balance bet ween
addressing immediate and longer-term problems.

Good performance in the Index is
strongly correlated with fewer
people living in informal settle-
ments. What explains the link?

Among the 15 Index cities, the average percent-
age of the population living in informal settle-
ments is nearly 40%, but this includes a wide
range, from an estimated 15% in Casablanca to
an estimated 70% in Maputo. It turns out that
there is a strong correlation in the Index between
a city’s environmental performance and the per-
centage of residents living in informal settle-
ments. In brief, the fewer residents in a city liv-
ing informally, the better the city performs.

The impact of wealth on environmental
performance is unclear
One possibility is wealth. In other Green City
Indexes, there is a frequent connection between
higher per capita GDPs and better environmen-
tal performance. Unfortunately, consistent data
on per capita GDP was unavailable across the 15
African Index cities. Still, South African cities
have fewer informal settlements on the whole
than in the rest of the continent, which seems to
indicate a relationship between wealth and the
presence of informal settlements. But UN Habi-
tat reports that North African cities have made
strides in reducing the numbers of informal
urban dwellers through more effective policies,
independent of economic growth. So at best,
the link between the presence of informal settle-
ments and wealth is unclear at this point.

In fact, in cities in the developing world,
increasing wealth does not necessarily solve
environmental issues, and can indeed often lead
to more sustainability challenges, especially
with regard to resource consumption. “While
institutional frameworks and governance need
resources,” says Mr Omenya of the University of
Nairobi, “the reverse, that the presence of
resources will automatically lead to better man-
agement of environment, is not true … As cities
in Africa have grown and become richer, their
environments have degenerated.” Anton Cart -
wright, an economist at the African Centre for
Cities in Cape Town, agrees: “The notion that
you can grow your way from poverty to green-
ness is questionable,” he says. “Wealth does
make the provision of formal water and sanita-
tion services affordable, but this is a small pro-
portion of greenness. For the rest, in Africa,

12 13


indeed, while informal settlements have many
environmental problems, he suggests, “they
also have high density, low CO2 emissions, low
water consumption, high levels of resource effi-
ciency and relatively high levels of collective
coherence compared to atomistic suburbs.”

To improve urban environmental
governance, political power needs
to be decentralised, but in many
regions of Africa, the reverse is
happening.

Experts agree that decentralisation of power
from the national to the local level is crucial for
effective planning, but the path to get there is
difficult. Mr Simon says one of the elements of
success can be political will. He notes that Lagos
State has been active in improving urban infra-
structure and the environment. Lagos State –
the state is in effect the metropolitan govern-
ment – in particular has a growing reputation for
addressing “things which were in a parlous
state, in particular relating to sanitation, envi-
ronmental aesthetics, and remediation general-
ly. There has been dramatic change.” Indeed, for
sub-Saharan cities, adds Susan Parnell, profes-
sor at the African Centre for Cities at the Univer-
sity of Cape Town, “the big error is to assume
that they are not powerful. They have control
over some of the most critical levers of change,
sometimes unwittingly, things like land use
management.”

Unfortunately, according to Edgar Pieterse,
director of the African Centre for Cities at the
University of Cape Town, there is a trend towards
national governments taking more authority
over decisions about cities. “In many countries
there has been a recentralisation of functions;
and very seldom, except for South Africa, has
there been adequate fiscal decentralisation to
match functional devolution,” he says. “This
goes to the heart of the governance question.”

The Index raises many questions about the
future challenges of sustainability in Africa, from
providing basic services to poor residents, to
upgrading and integrating informal settlements
or even working to give the “green” agenda the
same priority as other pressing necessities. But
experts agree that addressing the green agenda
– and convincing public officials that they need
to address it along with the other issues they
face – will be the crucial task in the years to
come. “Urban sustainability is not a luxury; it is a
time bomb,” Mr Omenya says. “The issues of
poverty, under-development and governance
are now becoming increasingly urbanised. This
is where the battle for progress in African coun-
tries must be located.”

mality’,” says Mr Omenya. He adds that there are
regional differences for how African cities cope
with informal settlements: South Africa has rela-
tively well plannned informal settlements. In
West African cities, they are mainly undisputed
tribal lands, which the owners are able to
upgrade themselves and which receive basic
infrastructure and services. Eastern Africa, on
the other hand, tends to have informal settle-
ments set on public land. These are targets for
eviction rather than upgrades, and as Mr
Omenya adds, “they hardly attract good policy
and programmatic interventions.”

The cutting edge of policy:
Blurring the lines between informal and
formal neighbourhoods
Current thoughts on informal settlements take
the idea of “upgrades” even further, actually
eliminating the distinction in the city between
“formal” and “informal”. Indeed, it is often diffi-
cult to distinguish between the two in some
places, as cities begin to deliver municipal ser-
vices to these neighbourhoods. “Planning and
governance in African cities no longer sees this
dichotomy as relevant,” Cartwright says. And

Action for today:
Low-cost priorities to aid urban sustainability

Although some environmental strategies do cost money, certain policies – such as obtaining energy

from existing landfill sites or providing legal protection for waste pickers – cost relatively little but can

make an immediate difference. What low-cost improvements would be most beneficial for African

cities?

“It is about policies and programmes,” says Mr Omenya of the University of Nairobi. “For example,

power consumption can be limited by having good controls on development. Good planning can en-

sure that in areas with adequate daylight solar power can be used to remove domestic consumers

from the national grid. Good planning and development controls can ensure that rainwater harvesting

takes place and people are not travelling long distances across the city, polluting the environment in

their wake. Currently planning seems to overtly support unsustainable consumption.” He suggests the

following policies should be low-cost priorities for African cities:

➔ Slum upgrading policies

➔ Rainwater harvesting

➔ Effective public transport policies that promote non-motorised transport

➔ Open space systems, conservation of urban greenery and buffer zones

➔ Waste management policies

➔ Development control, planning and land use policies

➔ Domestic clean energy policies promoting, for example, solar energy

more affluence currently correlates with more
emissions, more urban sprawl, lower density,
more cars.”

Governance is key
The Index suggests another factor may be at
work: good governance. Experts say the institu-
tional ability to run a city efficiently and intelli-
gently matters more than wealth or the level of
economic development. This idea is powerful on
a continent where many cities may wait decades
for the kind of wealth levels common in other

regions of the world, but where environmental
challenges cannot wait.

Dr Joan Clos, Executive Director of UN Habi-
tat and former mayor of Barcelona, suggests
that institutional capacity is the first step: “The
cities need political institutions that can take the
lead in urban planning and design” he says.
“Once you have that, investment, job creation
and improving quality of basic services for citi-
zens will come.”

“Governance is key, and more importantly,
for the way the city plans and approaches ‘infor-

14 15

well below average above well
below average average above

average average

Dar es Salaam
Maputo

Luanda
Nairobi

Addis Ababa
Alexandria

Cairo
Lagos

Pretoria

Accra
Cape Town
Casablanca

Durban
Johannesburg

Tunis

69% 60% 35% 23%

Percentage of
residents living

in informal
settlements

by overall
result bands


16 17

Key findings from the categories
African Green City Index

Energy and CO2
The results in energy and CO2 highlight the vary-
ing levels of economic development on the con-
tinent, particularly between South Africa and
the other sub-Saharan African cities in the Index.
The performance of the four South African cities
(Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Preto-
ria) is held back because CO2 emissions from
electricity consumption are substantially higher
than in the other 11 cities and they have among
the highest per capita electricity consumption
figures in the Index. However, they perform
much better for energy policies. It should be
noted that due to data limitations, this category
was only able to take into account energy in the
form of electricity, and had to exclude power
sources such as diesel generators, for example,
or liquid fuels, which are prevalent in many
African cities.
➔ The average amount of CO2 emissions from
electricity consumption for the South African
cities is 3 tonnes per person, more than five
times the figure for North African cities (Tunis,

Casablanca, Cairo and Alexandria) and 60 times
the figure for the other seven cities in sub-Saha-
ran Africa (Accra, Addis Ababa, Dar es Salaam,
Lagos, Luanda, Maputo and Nairobi). This re -
flects the differences in sourcing electricity.
South Africa is mainly dependent on coal, while
the other cities largely rely on natural gas and
hydropower.
➔ On policy, however, South African cities are
among the best performers. Johannesburg, the
only South African city to finish above average in
the category, combines high policy scores with
the lowest electricity consumption among the
four South African cities.
➔ All of the seven sub-Saharan cities (exclud-
ing South Africa) in the Index have very low lev-
els of electricity consumption. On average, they
consume 2.3 gigajoules per person annually
compared with 9.9 gigajoules for the other
eight cities in the Index. This, combined with
the widespread use of hydropower in these
countries (on average 69% of electricity genera-
tion), leads to low CO2 emissions. On average

cities emit 49 kg of carbon per person from elec-
tricity each year.
➔ The four North African cities have relatively
high electricity consumption and access levels,
with much of their electricity generated through
natural gas. This combination puts their resul-
tant annual CO2 emissions from electricity con-
sumption at 570 kg per person on average. Their
policies are also relatively weak: none of these
cities obtains full marks for any energy policy
indicator.
➔ In general, exact data for CO2 emissions is
lacking since they are not directly measured.
CO2 figures for the Index had to be estimated.

Land use
African Index cities have had some success in
maintaining green space but are generally
marked down for low-density sprawl and the
significant numbers of residents living in infor-
mal settlements.
➔ On average the 15 African Index cities have
74 square metres of green space per person,

which is nearly double the figure for the Asian
Index, at 39 square metres, but less than the fig-
ure for the Latin American Index, at 255 square
metres per person.
➔ In some cases, this may be more a result of
good fortune than policy. Only eight of the 15
African Index cities receive full marks for their
green space protection policies. And only three
of the five cities with the most green spaces in
the Index have these policies. In addition, only
four get full marks for protecting environmental-
ly sensitive areas. Without more stringent poli-
cies, population growth is likely to threaten their
green space.
➔ Urban sprawl is an issue in African Index
cities. The 15 cities have an average population
density of about 4,600 people per square kilo-
metre. Cairo, at 19,100 people per square kilo-
metre, is the densest city in the African Index,
and without it, the average density falls to
3,500 people per square kilometre. In contrast,
the 22 major cities evaluated in the Asian Green
City Index have an average population density of

8,200 people. And only four African cities
receive full marks for policies to address urban
sprawl.
➔ A more pressing problem is when sprawl
takes the form of informal settlements. Even
though every city in the Index has some sort of
slum redevelopment policy, on average 38% of
Index city populations remain in informal settle-
ments. According to UN Habitat, Africa as a
whole has the most people living in informal set-
tlements in the world. The organisation also
reports that North African cities have made sub-
stantial progress in reducing the percentages in
recent decades. For example, Casablanca has
the lowest figure for the entire Index, at an esti-
mated 15%. But dramatic population growth
expected for sub-Saharan Africa threatens to
exacerbate the situation in many cities.

Transport
Given the resources needed to build and main-
tain a public transport network, it is no surprise
that many African Index cities do not have exten-

sive advanced systems such as metro lines. The
Index shows that cities could improve in policy
areas though, for example by establishing more
initiatives to reduce traffic congestion. It should
be noted that the public in African cities relies
extensively on private transport – taxis and pri-
vate minibuses, for example, and these forms of
transport could not be included in this category
due to lack of data.
➔ On average the 15 African Index cities have
2.7 kilometres of public transport (official bus
lines) per square kilometre. They also have an
average of 0.07 kilometres of superior transport
networks, defined as metros, trams or bus rapid
transit lines. This is shorter than in the Latin
American Index, at 0.1 km per square kilometre,
and Asia, at 0.2 km.
➔ A related difficulty is a lack of consistency in
mass transport policies. No city has a completely
integrated pricing system for its public transport
system. Only Cairo gets full marks for invest-
ments to reduce emissions from urban mass
transport. And just three cities – Cape Town,


Dar es Salaam and Tunis – receive full marks for
promoting greener forms of transport such as
walking or cycling.
➔ Congestion reduction measures such as car-
pooling lanes, no-car days or toll roads are
mostly missing. Only park-and-ride schemes
have been adopted by seven of 15 cities and
traffic light sequencing is present in 12 Index
cities.

Waste
African cities vary widely in figures for waste
generation and many cities could benefit from
more active policies. However, there are hopeful
signs in the area of recycling.
➔ Waste production figures vary between
160 kg per capita each year in Addis Ababa and
more than 1,000 kg in Pretoria. On average, resi-
dents of African Index cities generate 408 kg of
waste per capita. This figure is less than the Latin
American Index average of 465 kg, but more
than the Asian Index average, at 375 kg. Howev-
er, comparisons across continents should be

treated with caution because in Africa it is often
unclear to what extent figures include waste
produced in informal settlements.
➔ Recycling is becoming more common on the
continent. Nine cities have on-site collection or
central collection points, and one more city,
Dar es Salaam, has plans for central collection
points. Plastics are recycled, or soon will be, in
14 Index cities, paper in 13 cities and glass in 11.
➔ Waste policies, such as an overall waste man-
agement strategy or environmental standards
for landfills, are less widespread. Just Alexan-
dria, Cairo and Cape Town get full marks for hav-
ing a strategy aimed at reducing, reusing and
recycling waste in place, and only Alexandria –
the one city in this category to finish well above
average – regulates waste pickers (residents
who informally scavenge for recyclables and
reusable items).

Water
Water consumption is relatively low in African
cities. But this is likely a reflection of factors

such as more limited access to piped water and
high prices, which are issues for most cities in
the Index. On a policy level, cities’ codes cover-
ing water quality and conservation could be
strengthened.
➔ African Index cities consume on average
187 litres per person per day, less than in the
Latin American Index, at 264 litres or the Asian
Index, at 278 litres.
➔ The average level of access to potable water
in the African cities is 91%, although the defini-
tion of access for Africa does not necessarily
mean water piped directly to households or a
24-hour supply, and can include access to a
communal tap, for example.
➔ Leakage rates are high, at 30%, although not
as high as for the Latin American Index, at 35%.
The average for the Asian Index was 22%. It is
unclear to what extent leakages or unaccount-
ed-for water in informal settlements are taken
into account in the African city data.
➔ Strong water policies are not widespread. For
example, only seven of 15 cities receive full

marks for improving surface water quality; just
five get full marks for monitoring water quality,
and only two fully enforce water pollution stan-
dards for local industries.
➔ Robust water efficiency initiatives, such as
public promotion of conservation or grey water
recycling, are also not very common. The excep-
tion is metering or tariffs, which are in place or
planned for 14 of the 15 Index cities.

Sanitation
Sanitation access rates vary widely, from an esti-
mated 49% in Maputo to an estimated 99% in
Casablanca. In addition to the need to improve
access, in general most cities face challenges in
implementing sanitation codes and policies as
well as treating wastewater before discharging
it.
➔ On average 84% of residents of African Index
cities have access to sanitation, although as
with access to potable water, definitions of
access to sanitation do not always include
household connections to the sewerage system.

The type of access also varies widely across the
Index cities.
➔ On policy African cities tend to lag behind.
Only four cities are given full marks in the Index
for having a code covering sanitation standards
and infrastructure. Thirteen cities have waste-
water treatment standards in place and conduct
some monitoring, but only six score full marks
for their efforts in these areas.
➔ There is also a lack of enforcement of the
existing policies. For example, only Tunis has
regular monitoring of on-site treatment facilities
in homes or communal areas, whereas ten cities
have very limited monitoring or do not monitor
these sites.
➔ Figures on the share of wastewater treated
were not available throughout the 15 African
cities, but in several cities only a small percent-
age of the sewerage is treated before being dis-
charged into the rivers or sea.

Air quality
There is no emissions data in many African cities,

so unlike in previous Green City Indexes, the air
quality category in the African Index is evaluated
only on the basis of policies. Regarding these
regulations, the more developed cities in South
Africa tend to be more active, while in much of
sub-Saharan Africa, air quality appears to receive
relatively little attention from governments.
➔ All cities in South Africa finish above average
in this category, with each gaining full marks for
their air quality codes and pollution monitoring,
and all but one for setting standards for specific
pollutants.
➔ Six of the seven sub-Saharan cities (exclud-
ing South Africa) are not covered by an air quali-
ty code and five of the seven do not conduct
monitoring.
➔ The four North African cities are slightly less
active than South Africa, but Casablanca and
Tunis are still above average and the other two,
Cairo and Alexandria, fall into the average band
in this category.
➔ Comprehensive, comparable data on air
quality was not available to include in the
African Green City Index. Yet individual studies
and evidence from experts suggest that even
when policies are in place African cities face
huge challenges in actually reducing pollution,
which often reaches unhealthy levels.

Environmental governance
Environmental policy in African Index cities
tends to be set at the national, state or provin-
cial level, instead of at city level, which means
that in general environmental issues receive
less attention than if they were overseen locally.
The four South African cities are notable for
their relative independence to manage the
environment at the urban level. In general,
even if policies are in place, execution of those
policies can be lacking.
➔ Eleven of 15 Index cities are covered by a
dedicated environmental department, although
this is often a national or state-level body. Where
these departments exist, they usually have a
wide remit typically covering most or all of the
environmental areas evaluated in the Index.
➔ Five cities publish environmental perfor-
mance data regularly, and five cities have also
completed wide-ranging baseline environmen-
tal reviews. Efforts in these areas in the remain-
ing cities are partial or non-existent.
➔ All but one city involve citizens, non-govern-
mental organisations and other stakeholders in
some way, however limited, in making environ-
mental decisions.
➔ Citizens interested in engaging with the
authorities face difficulties in getting better
data. Only two cities get full marks for ease of
access to information and ten cities receive no
marks.

18 19


The path to greener cities, says Nicholas You, requires rethinking how we manage them. Holistic planning too often

suffers from a sector-by-sector approach across competing jurisdictions, and policymakers fail to see the city as a single

entity. Mr You, based in Nairobi, is chairman of the Steering Committee of UN Habitat’s World Urban Campaign, a platform

for private and public organisations to share sustainable urban policies and tools. He also leads several other global sus-

tainable development initiatives, and served on the expert panel that advised the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)

on the methodology for the African Green City Index. He spoke to the EIU about the results of the Index, the difficulty of

measuring the environmental impact of informal settlements and the necessity to administer cities as “living organisms”.

20 21

“Far from a nice-to-have option”:Green policies are central to economic and social progress in African cities
African Green City Index

An interview with Nicholas You, sustainable urban development expert

Africa faces many complex and difficult
challenges. In this context, urban
environmental sustainability could be
seen as “nice-to-have” or even irrelevant
until other more pressing problems are
solved. Given the continent’s many
challenges, how much attention should
officials give to urban environmental
sustainability?
Africa is the most rapidly urbanising region in
the world. It is undergoing a radical transforma-
tion in the way it uses land, water and energy,
as well as food production, consumption and
distribution. This transformation requires a
concerted set of social, economic and environ -
mental policies that places the city and urban -
isa tion at the centre of the agenda. Drought and
flooding may or may not be directly caused by
human activity, but the resulting famine,
human displacement and impoverishment are
a direct consequence of poor planning and risk
management; inadequate infrastructure and
services; inefficient markets and regulatory
mechanisms; just to mention a few. These
urban functions are critical to sustainable
development in both the cities and rural envi -
ronments. Sustainable development policies

at the city level in Africa are far from being a
“nice-to-have option”. These policies will
ultimately determine Africa’s capacity to ensure
sustain able development for society as a
whole.

Although wealth is important for environ -
mental performance, what kinds of ini -
tiatives or activities can lower income
cities undertake to improve their environ -
mental performance?
In economic terms, cities in lower income
countries have the most to gain from adopting
environmentally sound and sustainable policies
and practices. Such initiatives can substantially
reduce waste, improve efficiency, and create
jobs and income-generating opportunities.
A typical example is waste recycling and reuse.
In many cities in developing countries, this is
carried out by scavengers working and living in
deplorable conditions. The right mix of policies,
participation and empowerment could result in
win-win situations whereby waste is recycled
into usable products; methane is captured to
produce green energy; and the scavengers no
longer have to work in life-threatening condi -
tions.

Are there any practical policy improve-
ments in Africa that can make a large
impact without costing too much money?
One of the most compelling policy initiatives
that is transforming the lives of millions of
people as we speak is mobile banking in Kenya.
The regulatory authorities in Kenya have had
the foresight to allow Kenyans to transfer
money, for a nominal fee, through mobile
phones. This has made transactions accessible
to millions of people who were excluded by
conventional banking practices. This initiative
has procured immeasurable social and
economic benefits for all, and at minimal cost.
One can only hope that lessons learned from
this policy initiative, in terms of deregulation
and empowerment, will be applied to other
sectors such as energy and water.

In other regions covered by the Green City
Index series (eg, Europe, Asia, the
Americas) more wealth is linked to better
environmental performance. In the Afri -
can Green City Index, however, where
income levels are well below other parts of
the world, there seems to be a strong link
rather between good governance and

people don’t move from the informal settle -
ment is because it provides them with access to
jobs, or services they would otherwise have to
pay considerably more for. Also, in terms of
location, they are ideal. Most slums started their
life located on the margins of the city. Over
time, with rapid growth, the slum actually finds
itself located in the middle of the city. Removal
or relocation of informal settlements is also
asking people to move from a neighbourhood
where they have lived a good part of their life,
if not their whole life.

What can national governments in Africa
do to support cities in their efforts to achieve
environmentally sustainable growth?
The most important step that national govern -
ments in Africa should take is the formulation of
a national urban policy. They should also give a
dedicated government ministry the responsibili-
ty for executing the policy. For the moment only
a handful of African countries have adopted
urban development policies and, even in some
of those countries, the responsibility for moni -
toring, reporting and implementation remains
split between different government entities.
The result is poor coordination and poorly in -
formed decision making.

What are the most important steps that
cities in Africa and the rest of the world
have to take to become more environmen-
tally sustainable?
We have to take planning seriously. I don’t mean
‘sectoral’ planning, where each sector – water,
energy, waste, sanitation – plans independent-
ly. We must look at the city or the metro region
as a whole. Competing jurisdictions are one of
the biggest obstacles to sustainable urbanisa-
tion. Most metropolitan areas cut across many
jurisdictions, with different elected bodies and
local government structures. You could be busy
trying to green your city, but half of the popula -
tion that depends on your city may fall under
different planning and regulatory regimes, and
service providers that are engaged in establish -
ing the next shopping mall, the next golf
course, the next exburb. The city is a living
organism that needs to be managed as a single
entity, and just like any living organism, it needs
to develop holistically.

formal settlements are living proof that we are
not planning our cities well.

Often statistical agencies and city autho -
rities report high levels of access to basic
services, such as potable water, waste
collection and sanitation, when the situa -
tion on the ground may be very different
because of the presence of informal
sett lements. What are the challenges in
trying to get an accurate picture through
data?
If you are looking at indicators, such as water
consumption per capita or waste generation
per capita, and leave out informal settlements,
you’re leaving out part of the picture. The water
company has a remit, and the sewage company
has a remit, and their remits do not typically
include informal settlements. They may rightly
say “100% coverage”, while the city as a whole
may drop down to 70% access. Since the
Green City Index is comparative within a region,
that is, comparing African cities with each
other, the distortion won’t be that serious.
If we compare across regions, for example,
between Africa and Asia, we have to be a
little more careful. Let me give you an example.
A slum in Nairobi has piped water supply to
within 50 metres of households. People
theoretically have access to piped water supply,
but when the water is only switched on at
certain times of the day, you begin to see that
people are queuing up for water for hours.
There is a gender issue as well. Most of the
people in the queue are older women and
young girls. If young girls are waiting to fetch
water, they are not going to school, which leads
to a snowball effect. Another example: slums in
Nairobi may have one toilet for 200 people –
a statistician will say they have access to
sanitation.

Can we identify any common approaches
in the way cities are addressing the
challenge of informal settlements?
I believe that we are beginning to see an emerg -
ing pattern which favours upgrading buildings
and services in informal settlements, as op-
pos ed to removal and demolition. Slums are
com munities with their own social, cultural and
eco nomic networks. A lot of the reason why

environmental performance. To what
extent do you think better governance is
related to improving the environment in
Africa’s cities?
Wealth creation and governance go hand-in-
hand and, as we have seen in other regions, as
societies become wealthier, people demand
better quality of environment. While many
countries in Africa are experiencing appreciable
rates of economic growth, this is largely the
result of those countries having adopted more
liberal and pro-business policies within the last
decade. This “dividend” will not last forever. In
order to sustain economic growth and ensure
equitable benefits of that growth, better
governance is required. There should be no
distinction between improving urban environ -
mental sustainability, lifting people out of
poverty and empowering people to take part in
decisions affecting their livelihoods.

How can African cities make their con -
sumption more sustainable as they grow
richer?
It is about consuming more intelligently, with
less waste and less energy intensity. Rapid
growth has many potential advantages,
especially in African cities which have yet to
create the infrastructure they need for today
and tomorrow. Proper planning and well-
informed technology choices – integrating the
full benefits of smart growth, smart infrastruc-
ture and smart services, for example – could
allow these cities to leapfrog more mature
societies. But smart technologies also require
smart systems, including better governance.

Informal settlements clearly affect a city’s
environmental footprint and some cities in
the African Green City Index have more
than half of their populations living infor -
mally. Yet by their nature, informal settle -
ments are not well covered by statistics.
How exactly do informal settlements
affect the environmental performance
of a city?
Informal settlements are, by definition, unsus -
tainable. They represent a high degree of social
and economic exclusion. Milton Santos, one of
the most advanced thinkers of his time, said
that poverty is the worst form of pollution. In -


22 23

Best green initiatives
African Green City Index

Energy and CO2 : Reducing the
carbon footprint in Cape Town
Cape Town’s below average score in the energy
and CO2 category comes in part from the second
highest rate of electricity consumption in the
Index, but even more from the type of energy it
uses to meet this demand: 93% of the city’s elec-
tricity comes from coal. The result is that Cape
Town’s annual per capita emissions from elec-
tricity consumption, at an estimated 4,099 kg,
are more than four times the Index average of
984 kg. To a large degree the causes of Cape
Town’s problems are beyond its control. Eskom,
the company that dominates South Africa’s
power generation, still relies mainly on coal,
although with the support of the national gov-
ernment it has recently begun to look for cleaner
sources of fuel.

What makes the city unique is its impressive
efforts to address its carbon footprint. Cape
Town, with the best clean energy policies in the
Index, began early. In 2003 it was the first
African city to create an Integrated Metropolitan

Environmental Policy, which set a vision and
strategy to improve in several areas such as
waste management, open spaces and energy
policy. In 2006 it adopted a Climate Change
Strategy (updated in 2010), which includes
more than 100 projects around the city and
renewables targets. The city’s efforts start with
energy conservation. Its goal is to reduce elec-
tricity consumption by 10% by 2012. Efforts to
meet this target include an electricity saving
campaign aimed at individuals, the creation of
an Energy Efficiency Forum for business, and
substantial retrofitting of the city’s own building
and traffic lights.

Cape Town has also made commitments to
renewable energy, with a target to derive 10% of
its power from renewables by 2020. At the
domestic level, it has launched a programme to
install 300,000 solar water heaters over the next
four years. The city has also built the country’s
first commercial wind farm, which started feed-
ing clean energy into the national grid in 2008.
The Darling wind farm will soon not be so

unique. The provincial government of Western
Cape (Cape Town is the capital of the province)
is considering applications to build 40 more
wind farms in the province.

Highlights from other cities:
Accra: Ghana’s national government, which
oversees environmental policy throughout the
country, remains committed to hydropower as
its main renewable power source. However, the
state-owned power company, the Volta River
Authority, has also initiated a project to generate
100 megawatts of wind and solar power by the
end of 2011 through the installation of solar
plants in three northern regions of Ghana and a
coastal wind farm.
Lagos: Although efforts are in the early stages,
officials have been looking at ways to capitalise
on global carbon-credit trading schemes such as
the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mecha-
nism, under which developed countries can
invest in developing nations in exchange for car-
bon emissions credits. As part of this the Lagos

State Environmental Protection Agency has
established a Carbon Credit Centre to deal with
carbon credit consultations, transactions, appli-
cations and trading, and also to promote poten-
tial clean energy deals.
Pretoria: During the past two years the city has
installed more than 12,000 solar water heaters
in a number of communities in the metropolitan
area through an investment by the national
Department of Energy. As well as reducing ener-
gy consumption and associated emissions, the
water heaters have no cost apart from their ini-
tial installation and are popular among lower-
income households.

Land use: Combining social,
eco nomic and environmental
revitalisation in Johannesburg
Ten years ago the heart of Johannesburg had
many dangerous, dilapidated neighbourhoods
and business generally stayed away. Since then
a dramatic turnaround has taken place in no
small part due to the work of the Johannesburg

Development Agency (JDA). The city set up the
agency in 2001 with the remit to regenerate
decayed inner city areas, and promote economic
development and quality of life. The agency’s
work has integrated urban environmental im -
provements with social and economic develop-
ment. Environmentally, the agency's efforts are
helping to curb urban sprawl by drawing resi-
dents back to the rehabilitated city centre. In
these central neighbourhoods, the city has built
new mixed-income houses, has increased
access to municipal services and extended the
public transport network, including bus rapid
transit.

The JDA has brought together a wide range
of stakeholders and city departments on its pro-
jects. In particular, it has focussed on using the
existing assets of neighbourhoods in order to
create a vibrant city. The regeneration in the
Constitution Hill neighbourhood, for example,
used the new home of the country’s Constitu-
tional Court as an anchor. The Jeppestown Sta-
tion Pre cinct Project created a more secure area

friendly to pedestrians, revived an existing trans-
port in terchange and drove business to the local
market.

Perhaps the best known JDA project was the
transformation of Newtown, an inner-city area
that had the feel of a derelict wasteland. As first
steps, the agency boosted the sense of security
in the neighbourhood by installing closed-circuit
television cameras and refurbishing public build -
ings. It continued by improving access through
projects such as the now iconic Nelson Mandela
Bridge. In addition, more than 2,000 housing
units have been built or are planned. The core of
the redevelopment is an investment in culture,
refreshing the historic Market Theatre and
attracting visitors to Museum Africa, the coun-
try’s national history museum. The JDA’s efforts
are creating urban neighbourhoods that are
attractive to business as well as to individuals. In
2009 it estimated that the Constitution Hill and
Newtown projects had each received around
US$300 million in private investment after
regeneration efforts began.


Highlights from other cities:
Addis Ababa: The city master plan calls for
reforestation of surrounding mountains, the
recovery of existing city parks and the establish-
ment of new ones. The most significant new
green space will be a pedestrian linear park
winding some 5 km through the city centre.
Casablanca: In the past two years officials have
been running pilots throughout the metropoli-
tan area to test the viability of “urban agricul-
ture”, which incorporates green space into
urban centres and provides another food source
for the city. The project receives funding from
the German government’s Ministry of Education
and Research.
Nairobi: The Kenya Wildlife service in partner-
ship with private companies is managing the
Green Line Project, an initiative to plant forest
along 30 km of the perimeter of Nairobi Nation-
al Park in the south of the city. The hope is to
create a visible boundary between the park and
surrounding new developments, and to dis-
courage lobbying by developers to cut slices off
the park.

Dar es Salaam: The Aga Khan Foundation, an
international non-governmental organisation, is
trying to introduce traditional Swahili building
methods, which include using shade and
breezes to cool buildings, and using local mud
and thatch instead of imported steel and glass.
Although these will be difficult to realise on a
large scale, some of the principles of Swahili
architecture can help show the way for superior
and greener new developments.

Transport: Investing billions in the
public transit network in Cairo
Traffic in Cairo has a bad reputation. Roughly
80% of intersections in central Cairo and Giza
are saturated, the city has a high accident rate,
especially among pedestrians, and public trans-
port is under-developed by international stan-
dards. However, Cairo is above average among
the 15 cities in the African Green City Index for
the length and relative sophistication of its
metro system. The city has the only substantial
metro system. And the national government,
which oversees environmental policy in Egypt, is

trying to address its transport problems through
investments and new policies.

To begin with, the metro is in the middle of a
US$3.7 billion extension that will create two
east-west lines to complement the existing ones
that run broadly north-south. Construction of
phase one of a third line began in 2006 and a
second phase started in 2009. The first phase is
due to open in January 2012. The ministry of
transport expects that when the second phase is
complete within the next two years, the capacity
of the whole metro system will rise from 2.5 mil-
lion passengers daily to 4.5 million. Moreover,
the government is upgrading and extending the
nearly century-old tram system and this may
involve connections with the metro.

Buses will also see improvement. Egypt has
received funding for the Urban Transport Infra-
structure Development Project from the World
Bank. Initially, this will involve replacing the
existing energy inefficient buses with 1,100
compressed natural gas ones. The first 200 of
these took to the road in June 2010, with the
rest scheduled to appear by 2012.

Finally, the Carbon Finance Vehicle Scrap-
ping and Recycling programme aims to get near-
ly 50,000 taxi drivers with vehicles more than
20 years old to replace them with new ones. So
far the scheme has been very successful, with
20,000 vehicles replaced in 2009 alone. This is
the first transport programme in the world to be
registered with the UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change’s Clean Development Mech-
anism. There is no one solution to making
Cairo’s transportation sustainable, but progress
on a wide number of fronts should slowly help.

Highlights from other cities:
Johannesburg and Pretoria: The high-speed
train line, the Gautrain, which links downtown
Johannesburg to Pretoria, is already operational
and work is underway on one final station. For
Pretoria, the new service offers a long-awaited
alternative to driving between the cities and will
greatly reduce the amount of traffic.
Tunis: The city is investing US$2 billion in public
transport network improvements. In November
2008 the city completed a 6.8 km extension to the

light rail network in the south of the city and a 5.3
km western extension was completed in De cem -
ber 2009. Two further extensions are also under
way. An additional suburban network is planned
by 2016. The city also has plans to introduce
14 new bus rapid transit corridors, totalling 90 km.
Lagos: In March 2008 bus rapid transit was
introduced by the Lagos State government in
conjunction with the private sector. This was
promoted as an affordable, reliable and safe
means of travelling while significantly reducing
congestion on the city’s roads. The buses, run-
ning in dedicated lanes, can reduce journey
times by 30%. In 2010 there were 220 buses in
operation. In its two years of operation 120 mil-
lion passengers have used the system, reducing
carbon emissions by an estimated 13%.

Waste: Lagos turns waste into
wealth
Before 2005 the amount of waste piling up on
the streets of Lagos regularly led commentators
to talk of a crisis. The situation has improved to
such an extent that when former US President

Bill Clinton came to the city in April 2011, he
praised the great strides that the state govern-
ment had made in this area.

The challenge of waste management re -
mains, but the government has been actively
implementing a new strategy through its re-
branded department, the Lagos Waste Manage-
ment Authority (LAWMA). Under LAWMA’s
waste-to-wealth program me, waste is treated
not only as a problem but as a potential asset. As
a result, currently around 10% of the city’s waste
is converted to other uses. Programs include
recycling facilities that turn 30 tonnes a day of
plastic and nylon waste into shopping bags,
among other items. A paper waste processing
plant recycles 10 tonnes of waste daily.

The effort has only just begun. The state gov-
ernment hopes to nearly triple the rate of waste
conversion to 35% by 2015. It recently announc ed
that it would be setting up 1,000 recycling banks
around the city. To deal with what residents
leave in these containers, a new recycling facility
will be built in cooperation with the Clinton Cli-
mate Initiative. When complete, it will be able to

24 25


environmental governance thanks to its large
environmental management department, is
also blazing trails by engaging civil society to
build a long-term vision for the city. To that end,
the city council introduced the Imagine Durban
initiative on integrated, long-term planning.
Imagine Durban is a comprehensive programme
aimed at improving all aspects of life in the city
from safety, accessibility and culture to environ-
mental sustainability.

A wide range of goals have already been set
in collaboration with citizens, non-governmen-
tal organisations and other civil society players.
These include a 20-year target to become a zero-
waste city and a goal to become carbon-neutral
by 2050. Imagine Durban has created toolkits
that advise businesses and individuals on how to
reduce their carbon footprints. It also runs a
Facebook page intended to engage a broader
spectrum of local residents. The initiative is
being implemented in conjunction with Sustain-
able Cities, a Canadian non-governmental or -
ganisation, and the PLUS Network, a network of
35 cities in the US, Canada, South America and
around the world sharing experiences in sus-
tainability planning.

Highlights from other cities:
Accra: As part of Ghana’s participation in the
UN Convention on Climate Change, the nation-
al environmental protection agency is prepar-
ing a national greenhouse gas inventory report
that will identify greenhouse gas emissions
from the different sources between 1990 to
2006. Work on the inventory began in 2008 and
the report was expected to be released in late
2011. The results of the study will be used to
develop a national climate change mitigation
policy.
Luanda: In July 2010 the national Ministry of
Environment began working on a national envi-
ronment database as part of a project being
financed by the African Development Bank;
work on this is still ongoing.
Maputo: In 2011 the Maputo municipal coun-
cil’s environmental department launched an
awareness campaign to educate students about
the importance of protecting the environment.
According to the department’s director, repre-
sentatives have visited most of Maputo’s schools,
highlighting the importance of planting trees
and keeping beaches clean. The department also
initiated a tree-planting programme in schools.
Nairobi: Numerous new technology initiatives
are tracking Nairobi’s environmental conditions.
A government online data portal announced in
July 2011 will allow Kenyans to identify spend-
ing on water and energy, and to keep track of the
state of the hydropower dams that provide the
city most of its energy.

sanitation facilities in the Darb al-Ahmar quarter
of Cairo’s Old City. The sewerage system, which
previously did not reach all the houses, has been
extended, and lead pipes have been replaced.
Casablanca: Lydec, the city’s private contractor
in charge of water and sanitation services, has
upgraded the city’s water network and improved
the supply of drinking water to a number of sec-
tors. It has also implemented a programme to
improve the wastewater network and eliminate
the discharge of waste into the sea.
Durban: In 2000 the city’s water service
launched a sewage education programme in a
bid to reduce damage to the city’s sewerage net-
work. The campaign, which includes toolkits,
road shows and street theatre performances,
appears to have had a positive impact, with
blockages in the system down significantly. Dur-
ban’s water department was invited to create a
toolkit to be used in urban Kenya and then possi-
bly elsewhere on the continent.

Environmental governance: Imag-
ining a more sustainable Durban
Durban, already among the Index leaders in

water requirements, including improved water
efficiency and the upgrading of wastewater
plants.
Dar es Salaam: UN Habitat has run several ini-
tiatives in the city in the past decade, including a
programme to identify and protect the city’s
water sources. A key element is a campaign of
water education for Dar es Salaam residents that
provides a clearer understanding of the value of
conserving water.
Maputo: The improvement of sanitation ser-
vices is a priority of the World Bank-funded
PROMAPUTO plan over the next five years. The
city is in the process of developing a Citywide
Sanitation Strategy through consultation with
donors and non-governmental organisations.
Though strategies and plans have proliferated at
the national level, a city sanitation strategy is a
necessary first step to creating synergy among
public officials, communities and non-govern-
mental organisations.

Highlights from other cities:
Cairo: The Aga Khan Trust for Culture has under-
taken a programme to rehabilitate water and

receiving assistance from outside agencies to
invest in plans and policies for long-term
advances. Here are highlights of some of these
programmes:
Accra: In 2006 the European Commission
spearheaded a strategic planning process for
urban water management and involved multiple
stakeholders. This process culminated in an inte-
grated vision and planning document released
in April 2011, which called for a target of 100%
access to uninterrupted water supply in the city
by 2030. The European Commission also helped
define a 2030 vision for improved sanitation in
Accra, calling for increased access to acceptable
sanitation and emphasising the importance of
improved coordination among the municipal
assemblies in greater Accra.
Alexandria: A major research project known as
SWITCH Urban Water, funded by the European
Commission, has provided an assessment of
Alexandria’s water requirements and examined
options for meeting expected demand up to
2037. The project aims to reduce extractions
from the Nile by 20%. The research looked at a
range of options to better meet Alexandria’s

Alexandria: In August 2011 the national gov-
ernment in partnership with Korean investors
opened a new chemical waste management
plant in Alexandria. The plant is the first of its
kind in the region to deal primarily with mercury
waste, which is found in fluorescent lamps. The
government first proposed the plant in 2007 to
combat the problem of mismanaged mercury
disposal, which is harmful to plant life and fish.
According to the national government Egypt
produces 40 million fluorescent bulbs annually
and 8 million are discarded as general waste.
Durban: In a bid to increase recycling and create
local income, informal waste-pickers are al-
low ed to rummage through the Bisasar Road
landfill site for items they perceive to be of value.
They can then sell their items at various buy-
back centres, which are run by both private
recycling companies and the city.

Water and sanitation: Internation-
al agencies invest in African cities
Delivering clean water and sanitation services to
urban households is one of the continent’s
biggest challenges. Many cities in the Index are

recycle or compost 300,000 tonnes of solid
waste annually. By tackling waste aggressively,
Lagos has become not only a better place to live,
but a more sustainable one.

Highlights from other cities:
Cape Town: The city has a number of ongoing
initiatives and plans to reduce waste generation:
For example, it is running a pilot scheme in some
suburbs to have residents separate waste from
recyclables before collection. There is also an
internet-based Integrated Waste Exchange web-
site, which allows businesses and the public to
exchange potentially useful waste materials.
And the city has published a detailed Smart Liv-
ing Handbook encouraging residents to reduce,
reuse and recycle waste in their homes.
Maputo: In 2007 the city piloted a waste man-
agement project in informal settlements that
lack paved roads. The city contracted with
micro-enterprises to collect household waste on
foot, going door-to-door with plastic bags. By
December 2010 the program was extended to
include the majority of the informal neighbour-
hoods, according to city officials.

26 27


The African Green City Index measures theenvironmental performance of 15 major
African cities and their commitment to reducing
their environmental impact. Cities were chosen
with a view to representing major African coun-
tries, and include capital cities or leading busi-
ness capitals selected on the basis of size, geo-
graphical spread and data availability. In cases
where there was a significant lack of data relat-
ing to a city, the city was omitted from the rank-
ing, as was the case with Algiers, for example.

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) devel-
oped the methodology in cooperation with
Siemens. An independent panel of international
experts in the field of urban sustainability pro-
vided important insights and feedback on indi-
cator selection. The methodology builds on the

28 29

Methodology
African Green City Index

work of previous Green City Indexes (Europe,
Germany, Latin America, Asia, and US and Cana-
da) and aims to closely follow their structure.
However, to be applicable to Africa, the EIU has
adapted the methodology to accommodate vari-
ations in data quality and availability, and envi-
ronmental challenges specific to the region.

The Index scores cities across eight cate-
gories – energy and CO2, land use, transport,
waste, water, sanitation, air quality and environ-
mental governance – and is composed of 25
individual indicators. Twelve of the indicators
are based on quantitative data and aim to mea-
sure how a city currently performs – for exam-
ple, its level of CO2 emissions from electricity
consumption, proportion of population living in
informal settlements, level of waste production

and access to sanitation. The remaining 13 indi-
cators are qualitative assessments of each city’s
policies, regulations and ambitions – for exam-
ple, its commitment to reducing the environ-
mental impact of energy consumption, develop-
ment of green spaces and conservation areas,
reducing congestion, and recycling waste.

Data collection
A team of contributors from the EIU collected
data between April 2010 and May 2011. Wher-
ever possible, the data were taken from publicly
available official sources, such as national or
regional statistical offices, local city authorities,
local utilities companies, municipal and regional
environmental bureaux, and environmental
ministries. The data are generally for the year

2009-2010, and where not available, from pre-
vious years.

Data quality
The EIU made every effort to integrate the most
recent and most comparable figures. The data
providers were contacted in cases where uncer-
tainties arose regarding individual data points.
Despite all these steps, the EIU cannot rule out
having missed an alternative reliable public
source or more recent figures.

However, in comparison with other Green
City Indexes, the availability and comparability
of data across cities was far more limited in
Africa. For example, in the air quality category,
sufficient data on levels of air pollutants such as
sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide were not

available for all 15 cities, and therefore could not
be included in the Index category “air quality”.

Figures for access to electricity, potable water
and sanitation were taken primarily from UN
Habitat’s State of African Cities report 2010. This
source did not include data for all cities in the
Index, and in this case other reliable, verifiable
sources were used (these are included in the
data tables within each city portrait). According
to UN Habitat, some attempt was made to
include “access” figures for informal settle-
ments, but these remain estimates based on
sampling. It is unclear and could not be deter-
mined whether the other published sources
made an attempt to include informal settle-
ments. In the end, the EIU made the judgment
that including the best available data on access

was necessary in an environmental index of
African cities, even if the definition of access and
access within informal settlements for each
source was not exactly or uniformly defined.
Definitions of access in Africa do not imply con-
venient access or quality, and certainly do not
necessarily imply piped supplies to every home.
The EIU has reflected this in the city portraits.

The EIU found that cities use varying defini-
tions for some of the data points. This applies in
particular to definitions on green spaces, popu-
lation living in informal settlements and water
leakage. In all instances the team of researchers
sought to standardise the definition used for the
indicator to its maximum extent. However, the
EIU cannot rule out that some differences may
still exist amongst the data used.


In some cases where there were data gaps the
EIU applied theoretically robust techniques to
calculate estimates. Regarding the indicator on
CO2 emissions, for example, the EIU used inter-
national CO2 coefficients provided by the UN
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to
estimate the CO2 emissions produced by the
city’s electricity consumption. The national elec-
tricity generation mix – as recorded by the Inter-
national Energy Association – was generally
used as a proxy for the city-level electricity gen-
eration mix.

Scoring of indicators
In order to compare data points across cities and
to calculate aggregate scores for each city, the
data gathered from various sources had to be
made comparable. For this purpose the quanti-
tative indicators were “normalised” on a scale of
zero to ten, with the best city scoring ten points
and the worst scoring zero. In some cases, rea-
sonable benchmarks were inserted to prevent
outliers from skewing the distribution of scores.
In these cases, cities were scored against either
an upper or a lower benchmark or both. For
example, the EIU introduced an upper bench-

mark of 10,000 inhabitants per square kilometre
for the indicator “population density” to prevent
Cairo – a significant outlier – from skewing the
distribution of scores.

Qualitative indicators were scored by EIU
analysts with expertise in the city in question,
based on objective scoring criteria that consider
cities’ targets, strategies and concrete actions.
The qualitative indicators were again scored
on a scale of zero to ten, with ten points
assigned to cities that meet the criteria on the
checklist. In the case of the “clean air policy”
indicator, for example, cities were assessed
according to whether they have a code or policy
to sustain or improve local ambient air quality
and the degree to which such codes are
enforced.

Index construction
The Index is composed of aggregate scores of all
of the underlying indicators. It is first aggregated
by category – creating a score for each area of
infrastructure and policy (for example, energy
and CO2 emissions) – and finally, overall, based
on the total of the category scores. To create the
category scores, each underlying indicator was

aggregated according to an assigned weight-
ing. The indicators receive the same weighting
within the respective categories. The category
scores were then rebased onto a scale of zero
to 100. To build the overall Index scores, the EIU
assigned even weightings to each category
score; that is, no category was given greater
importance than any other. The Index is essen-
tially the sum of all category scores, rebased to
100. This equal weighting reflects feedback
from the expert panel.

Owing to concerns that the availability and
quality of data are not sufficient enough to allow
a detailed ranking of Index results, the African
Green City Index results are presented in five
performance bands. The cities were assigned to
the five groups based on their underlying scores.
These bands are built around the mean score
and the standard deviation. The standard devia-
tion is a statistical term which describes to what
extent approximately 68% of the values differ
from the mean. The bands are defined as fol-
lows:

Well above average: Cities score >1.5 times
the standard deviation above the mean
Above average: Cities score between 0.5 and
1.5 times the standard deviation above the
mean
Average: Cities score between 0.5 times the
standard deviation below and 0.5 times the
standard deviation above the mean
Below average: Cities score between 0.5 and
1.5 times the standard deviation below the
mean
Well below average: Cities score >1.5 times
the standard deviation below the mean

Clusters
In order to conduct a deeper analysis of city
trends, the 15 cities in the Index were clustered
based on population, area and density. These
included:
➔ Population: “small population”, with a
population below 3 million; “mid population”,
with a population between 3 million and
5 million; and “high population”, with a
population exceeding 5 million inhabitants.
➔ Area: “small area”, with an administrative
area smaller than 500 square kilometres;
“mid area”, with an administrative area between
500 and 2,000 square kilometres; and “large
area”, with an administrative area larger than
2,000 square kilometres.
➔ Density: “low density”, with a population of
fewer than 2,000 people per square kilometre;
“mid density”, with a population between
2,000 and 5,000 people per square kilometre;
and “high density”, with a population of more
than 5,000 people per square kilometre.

30 31

List of categories, indicators and their weightings in the African Green City Index

* Cities score full points if they reach or exceed upper benchmarks, and zero points if they reach or exceed lower benchmarks.

Access to electricity Quantitative 25% Percentage of households with access to electricity. Min-max.

Electricity consumption per capita Quantitative 25% Total electricity consumption, Zero-max.
in GJ per inhabitant (1 GJ = 277.8 kWh).

CO2 emissions from electricity Quantitative 25% CO2 emissions, in kg per capita. Zero-max.
consumption per capita

Clean energy policy Qualitative 25% Measure of a city's efforts to reduce carbon emissions Scored by EIU analysts on a scale of 0 to 10.
associated with energy consumption.

Population density Quantitative 25% Population density, in persons per km2. Zero-max; upper benchmark of 10,000 persons
per km2 inserted to prevent outliers.

Population living in informal Quantitative 25% Percentage of the population living in informal Zero-max.
settlements settlements.

Green spaces per capita Quantitative 25% Sum of all public parks, recreation areas, greenways, Zero-max; upper benchmark of 150 m2 per person
waterways, and other protected areas accessible to inserted to prevent outliers.
the public, in metres squared per inhabitant.

Land use policy Qualitative 25% Measure of a city's efforts to minimise the environ- Scored by EIU analysts on a scale of 0 to 10.
mental and ecological impact of urban development.

Public transport network Quantitative 33% Consists of two equally weighted sub-indicators: 1) For superior transport network: Zero-max; to
1) Length of superior transport network, including prevent outliers upper benchmark of 0.2 km/km2
bus rapid transit, trams, light rail and subway, in km inserted.
per km2 of city area. 2) For mass transport network: Zero-max.
2) Length of mass transport network, including
dedicated public and private bus routes, in km
per km2 of city area.

Urban mass transport policy Qualitative 33% Measure of a city's efforts to create a viable mass Scored by EIU analysts on a scale of 0 to 10.
transport system as an alternative to private vehicles.

Congestion reduction policy Qualitative 33% Measure of a city's efforts to reduce congestion. Scored by EIU analysts on a scale of 0 to 10.

Waste generated per capita Quantitative 33% Total annual volume of waste generated by the city, Zero-max.
including waste not officially collected and disposed,
in kg per capita per year.

Waste collection and disposal policy Qualitative 33% Measure of a city's efforts to improve or sustain its Scored by EIU analysts on a scale of 0 to 10.
waste collection and disposal system to minimise the
environmental impact of waste.

Waste recycling and re-use policy Qualitative 33% Measure of a city's efforts to reduce, recycle and Scored by EIU analysts on a scale of 0 to 10.
re-use waste.

Access to potable water Quantitative 20% Proportion of population with access to potable water. Min-max.

Water consumption per capita Quantitative 20% Total water consumption, in litres per person per day. Min-max; cities that consume between 50-100 l/
capita/day score full points; cities that consume
less than 20 l/capita/day score zero points because
their consumption levels are below the UN standard
for basic subsistence-level water requirements.

Water system leakages Quantitative 20% Share of water lost in transmission between supplier Zero-max.
and end-user, excluding illegally sourced water or
on-site leakages, expressed in terms of total water
supplied.

Water quality policy Qualitative 20% Measure of a city's policy towards improving Scored by EIU analysts on a scale of 0 to 10.
the quality of surface water.

Water sustainability policy Qualitative 20% Measure of a city's efforts to manage water sources Scored by EIU analysts on a scale of 0 to 10.
efficiently.

Population with access to improved Quantitative 50% Share of the total population either with direct Min-max.
sanitation connections to sewerage, or access to
on-site sources.

Sanitation policy Qualitative 50% Measure of a city's efforts to reduce pollution Scored by EIU analysts on a scale of 0 to 10.
associated with inadequate sanitation.

Clean air policy Qualitative 100% Measure of a city's efforts to reduce air pollution. Scored by EIU analysts on a scale of 0 to 10.

Environmental management Qualitative 33% Measure of the extensiveness of environmental Scored by EIU analysts on a scale of 0 to 10.
management undertaken by the city.

Environmental monitoring Qualitative 33% Measure of the city's efforts to monitor its Scored by EIU analysts on a scale of 0 to 10.
environmental performance.

Public participation Qualitative 33% Measure of the city's efforts to involve the public Scored by EIU analysts on a scale of 0 to 10.
in environmental decision-making.

Category Indicator Type Weighting Description Normalisation technique*

Energy
and CO2

Land use

Transport


Waste

Water

Sanitation

Air quality

Environ-
mental
gover-
nance


32 33

Accra_Ghana

Background indicators
Total population (million) 2.3

Administrative area (km2) 200

Population density (persons/km2) 11,700

have access to electricity, equal to the Index
average, though residents in the city’s numerous
informal settlements typically pay three times
more for electricity than do residents in wealthi-
er neighbourhoods. Several projects are under-
way to increase Ghana’s power-generation
capacity. The national government has contract-
ed with a Chinese company to build a new
source of hydroelectric power – the Bui dam on
the Black Volta River in the northwest region.
The dam is scheduled for completion in 2013
and is expected to produce 1,000 gigawatt
hours per year. Following the discovery of natur-
al gas fields, the national government is also
diversifying away from hydropower; the majori-
ty of power generation increases in the coming
years will come from gas-fired power plants.

Green initiatives: Although the national gov-
ernment’s main renewable priority is hydro-
power, the state-owned power company, the
Volta River Authority (VRA), has also initiated a
project to generate 100 megawatts of wind and
solar power by the end of 2011 through the
installation of solar plants in three northern
regions and a coastal wind farm.

Land use: Average
Accra has the second highest population density
in the Index, at 11,700 people per square kilo-
metre, versus the Index average of 4,600. Over
the past two decades officials have struggled to
keep up with the sprawling metropolitan area,
and the city’s policies to contain sprawl and pro-
tect green spaces could be improved. An esti-
mated 42% of the city’s population lives in infor-
mal settlements, slightly above the Index
average of 38%. There was no available data
for the amount of green spaces per person in
Accra, but there are pleasant green areas on the

city’s fringes, which are used for urban agricul-
ture and supply 80% of fresh vegetables in the
city.

Transport: Below average
Public transport is extremely limited in Accra
and the city’s inhabitants rely heavily on private
vehicles, primarily tro-tros (minivans). Some
buses operate informally but few people use
them, opting instead for smaller and more nim-
ble vehicles to weave through the city’s congest-
ed traffic. A lack of dedicated routes also limits
the appeal of buses, although plans are in place
to build a bus rapid transit route (see “green ini-
tiatives” below).

Green initiatives: In 2007 the national govern-
ment adopted an urban transport policy,
financed by the World Bank. One of its objectives
is to promote more environmentally sustainable
transport in Accra through the creation of a bus
rapid transit (BRT) route in the city. The city
began construction in February 2011 and the
project is expected to be operational in 2012
serving about 12,000 passengers during peak
hours.

Waste: Average
Accra generates an estimated 440 kg of waste
per year on a per capita basis, just above the
Index average of 408 kg. The city scores well for
the range of materials it adequately disposes of
and recycles, which includes household haz-
ardous waste, paper and plastic. Accra also col-
lects and adequately disposes of medical, chem-
ical and construction waste. Yet unlike the city’s
middle- and high-income communities, which
typically pay for house-to-house waste collec-
tion, residents in informal settlements have to
carry their rubbish to container sites. The sites

African Green City Index

Accra is Ghana’s capital city. Stretching alongthe Atlantic coast, the city covers just 200
square kilometres, which is the smallest admin-
istrative area among the 15 cities in the African
Green City Index. Accra’s estimated population
of 2.3 million (extending to some 4 million
when neighbouring urban agglomerations are
taken into account) makes the city the second
densest in the Index, behind Cairo. Although
Ghana is viewed as one of sub-Saharan Africa’s
development success stories, many challenges
remain for its capital. The city suffers from what
UN Habitat calls an “urban divide” between the
rich and poor, especially when it comes to
accessing affordable housing and municipal ser-
vices. Urbanisation was more sudden and rapid
than Ghana’s post-colonial government predict-

ed, and as a result the city was unprepared to
meet the surging demand for housing and ser-
vices.

Despite the visible challenges, Accra ranks
above average overall in the Index. The city’s
standout category is environmental governance,
where it ranks well above average relative to its
Index peers, with strong scores for environmen-
tal management, monitoring and public partici-
pation. Other strong areas are air quality and
sanitation, where it ranks above average, bol-
stered by air quality promotion and monitoring,
and a robust policy aimed at promoting sanita-
tion. Energy and CO2 is another above average
category for Accra, driven by a high rate of
renewable electricity and low electricity con-
sumption, but limited supplies and steep prices

partly explain the city’s relatively low consump-
tion. Accra’s weakest category is transport,
where it ranks below average, largely because of
underdeveloped infrastructure and policies.

Energy and CO2: Above average
An estimated 49 kg of CO2 is emitted per person
in Accra through electricity consumption, well
below the Index average of 984 kg. The relative-
ly low CO2 emissions are due in part to a heavy
reliance on renewable energy. Nearly three-
quarters of Accra’s electricity comes from
hydropower. Electricity consumption per capita,
at 2.6 gigajoules, is less than half the Index aver-
age of 6.4 gigajoules. However, supply limita-
tions and high prices partly explain the relatively
low usage. An estimated 84% of households

well
below

average

below
average

average above
average

well
above

average

Performance

Energy and CO2

Land use

Transport

Waste

Water

Sanitation

Air quality

Environmental governance

Overall result

Accra Other cities

The order of the dots within the performance bands has no bearing on the cities’ results.


Quantitative indicators

Category Indicator Average

ENERGY and CO2 Proportion of households with access to electricity (%) 84.2

Electricity consumption per capita (GJ/inhabitant) 6.4

CO2 emissions from electricity consumption per person (kg/person) 983.9

LAND USE Population density (persons/km2) 4,578.1

Population living in informal settlements (%) 38.0

Green spaces per person (m2/person) 73.6

TRANSPORT Length of mass transport network (km/km2) 2.7

Superior public transport network (km/km2) 0.07

WASTE Waste generated per person (kg/person/year) 407.8

WATER Population with access to potable water (%) 91.2

Water consumption per person (litres per person per day) 187.2

Water system leakages (%) 30.5

SANITATION Population with access to sanitation (%) 84.1

are few in number and often difficult to reach.
Over the past few years, local groups have
stepped up their demands for improved waste
collection and disposal. In response, in 2010 the
national government reaffirmed its commit-
ment to increasing the private sector’s role in
handling waste and sanitation, and the private
sector is making investments to improve the
city’s waste management system (see “green ini-
tiatives” below).

Green initiatives: The private waste collection
company operating in Accra has nearly complet-
ed construction of a multi-million dollar waste
processing plant in the city that will handle
1,200 tonnes of solid waste per day for sorting,
recycling and composting. The plant is expected
to be operational by March 2012.

Water: Average
An estimated 80% of Accra’s residents have
some form of access to potable water, compared

of water provided by these various merchants is
not regulated, and water bought this way can
cost five to ten times more than piped water.
Accra’s consumption rate, at 121 litres per per-
son per day, is below the Index average of 187
litres, but the lack of supply is a clear factor.
Regarding policies, the city has not embarked on
any public promotional campaigns to encourage
greater water efficiency. Accra has a relatively
high level of water scarcity relative to other cities
in the Index, leading it to source water from less
sustainable sources such as imported bottled
water. Accra is marked up in the Index, however,
for having some measures in place to conserve
water, such as regulations limiting the amount
of water that can be taken from local lakes and
rivers.

Green initiatives: The national government is
investigating strategies to increase the distribu-
tion of piped water in Accra. In 2006 the Euro-
pean Commission spearheaded a five-year,

to sanitation facilities earn Accra an above aver-
age weighting in this category. Accra is covered
by a code outlining strategies and policies to
manage sanitation in the city, and the national
government works with local agencies to imple-
ment the policies. The code is backed by public
awareness campaigns around the efficient and
hygienic use of sanitation systems. An estimat-
ed 88% of the city’s population has access to
some form of sanitation, more than the Index
average of 84%. However, there is still much
work to be done in improving the city’s sanita-
tion facilities. Accra’s sewer system only covers
a tiny part of the city, around the government
ministries and central market. Moreover, the
vast majority of the wastewater treatment
plants associated with the sewer system either
are not functional or are operating below
capacity. Indeed, although Accra performs gen-
erally well in some of the policy areas covered in
the Index, it is marked down for its monitoring
of wastewater treatment plants. In addition, a

strategy to increase sanitation coverage over the
next five to ten years.

Air quality: Above average
Unlike the majority of Index cities, Accra informs
citizens about the dangers of air pollution. Air
monitoring is also relatively rigorous. Checks are
made at various locations throughout the city
for levels of nitrogen dioxide, suspended particu -
late matter, suspended fine particulate matter
and carbon monoxide. The transport sector, pri-
marily consisting of the tro-tros, is the dominant
source of air pollution in Accra. Authorities take
air pollution seriously, particularly from the
transport sector, and are taking steps to tackle
the problem (see “green initiatives” below). The
city benefits from the location of major indus-
tries in the neighbouring city of Tema, about 30
kilometres east of Accra.

Green initiatives: In 2006 the national Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted

an assessment of carbon dioxide emissions
from the transport sector. On the basis of
this study, the agency drafted a plan for
an annual vehicle certification regime that
would include CO2 emissions. The EPA is explor-
ing collaborations with private companies in
order to implement the plan. In addition,
the government’s bus rapid transit project aims
to reduce air pollution from the transport sec-
tor.

Environmental governance:
Well above average
Accra is the only city in the Index to place well
above average in the environmental gover-
nance category. The city’s local government
works in partnership with the national EPA to
implement environmental policies. The city’s
assembly has the power to implement environ-
ment-related regulations, and has a relatively
wide remit, encompassing all the main catego-
ry areas monitored by the Index, including sani-

34 35

with the Index average of 91%, and only about
40% have a supply piped into their homes. Just
under a third of the water supply is lost due to
leakages in the system, which is equal to the
Index average. Rapid urbanisation combined
with underinvestment in infrastructure has
meant that many people must purchase water
separately for washing and drinking from pri-
vate and community service producers. These
private vendors distribute water through several
mechanisms: sachets (treated water in half-litre
plastic sachets), which are sold in shops and on
the streets; tanker services, which directly sell
water to households from tanker trucks; and
domestic vendors, who purchase water from
tankers and resell it to households in smaller 15-
litre to 20-litre containers. The price and quality

multi-stakeholder strategic planning process for
urban water management. This process culmi-
nated in an integrated vision and planning docu-
ment released in April 2011, which called for a
target of 100% access to uninterrupted water
supply in the city by 2030. Also, in 2011 an
agreement was signed with the Export-Import
Bank of China for a US$270 million loan to dou-
ble the capacity of the Kpong water treatment
plant (on the Volta River, downstream of the Ako-
sombo Dam) – an improvement that will increase
the supply of piped water in Accra by 50%. The
project is scheduled for completion in 2014.

Sanitation: Above average
The presence of sanitation policies evaluated in
the Index and the relatively high level of access

large percentage of the sludge from the city’s
septic tanks is dumped untreated into nearby
streams and the sea. Those living in informal
settlements have to use public facilities, which
are limited in number for the populations they
serve.

Green initiatives: The European Commission-
funded strategic planning process for urban
water management defined a 2030 vision for
improved sanitation in Accra, calling for
increased access to acceptable sanitation by
2030 and emphasising the importance of
improved coordination among the municipal
assemblies in greater Accra. The national gov-
ernment, led by the Ministry of Water Resources,
Works and Housing, is nearing completion of a

tation, land use, informal settlements and
waste management. In addition, each of those
main category areas has been subject to a base-
line review within the last five years. Accra pro-
vides public information on environmental pro-
jects and performance. The city also has a
process to involve non-governmental organisa-
tions and other stakeholders in public meetings
on projects that have a major environmental
impact.

Green initiatives: One of Ghana’s most note-
worthy environmental initiatives is its participa-
tion in the UN Convention on Climate Change.
As part of this process, the EPA is preparing a
national greenhouse gas inventory report,
which will identify greenhouse gas emissions by
source from 1990 to 2006. Work on the invento-
ry began in 2008 and the report was expected to
be released in late 2011. The results of the study
will be used to develop a national climate
change mitigation policy.

All data applies to Accra unless stated otherwise below. * Where data from different years were used only the year of the main indicator is listed. e = EIU Estimate. 1) National electricity generation mix used to estimate city level CO2
data. 2) National data used as proxy for city data. 3) Negative marking used. 4) There are no dedicated bus routes in Accra. 5) There are no subway, tram, light rail or BRT lines. 6) Accra Metropolitan Area

Accra Year* Source

84.3 e 2003 UN Habitat

2.6 2009 Ghana Energy Commission

49.2 1e 2009 Ghana Energy Commission

11,710.0 2000 EIU calculation

42.0 2e 2010 UN Habitat

0.0 3 n/a No data available

0.0 4 2010 Metromass Transit Ltd

0.00 5 2010 Metromass Transit Ltd

439.8 6e 2010 Accra metropolitan assembly presentation

80.0 e 2007 International water management institute report

121.0 2010 Aqua-Viten Rand Ltd

30.0 e 2007 International water management institute report

88.0 e 2007 International water management institute report


36 37

Addis Ababa_Ethiopia

Background indicators
Total population (million) e 2.7

Administrative area (km2) 500

Population density (persons/km2) e 5,200

ity for Addis to become a “green industrial city”.
However, critics say that Ethiopia’s rush to
hydropower may falter because of the difficulty
in keeping prices affordable for customers. Black-
outs and brownouts are less common than in
other African cities, but some 85% of Addis resi-
dents still cook meals using wood fire.

Green initiatives: Although most of the city’s
renewable efforts are focused on large hydro
projects, a small-scale pilot is under way to pro-
vide solar street lights in Addis Ababa. A US-
based private company has won a contract from
the city to operate the pilot, which was set to
begin in January 2011 with the replacement of
ten street lights in the city.

Land use: Above average
Addis Ababa has a relatively high population

separate poor and rich like a “sunny-side up
egg”, according to experts, but Addis is more like
“scrambled egg”. The city is razing slums and
building apartment blocks in their place. Some
70,000 housing units are being offered under a
government-sponsored lottery in which winners
pay subsidised prices for new flats.

Green initiatives: The city master plan calls for
reforestation of surrounding mountains, the
recovery of existing city parks and the creation
of new parks. The most significant new green
space will be a pedestrian linear park winding
some 5 km through the city centre. In addition,
the master plan calls for the planting of indige-
nous trees along other rivers and streams in the
city, and the establishment of urban agriculture,
with households and neighbourhoods compost-
ing organic waste. Regarding buildings, one of

African Green City Index

Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia. Ithas one of the smallest administrative areas
in the African Green City Index, covering
500 square kilometres. Combined with Addis
Ababa’s estimated population of 2.7 million, it is
one of the densest cities in the African Green
City Index, alongside Cairo and Accra. Unlike
most other African cities, Addis Ababa has no
colonial heritage; rather it was founded by the
Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II in 1886 on a min-
eral spring. Today it is the headquarters for the
African Union, an organisation promoting
greater political and social-economic integra-
tion across the continent, and whose new sky-
scraper headquarters will open in 2012. A build-
ing boom is under way, but air quality, sanitation
and public transport remain challenges for the
city. Although eucalyptus forests on the Entoto

Mountains encircling the city are protected and
provide a watershed, there is a lack of public
green space.

Addis Ababa ranks average overall in the
Index. The city’s best category performance is in
energy and CO2, where it performs well above
average. Water and land use are also strong
areas in which Addis Ababa achieves above aver-
age ranks. On a per capita basis, it has one of the
lowest water consumption rates and generates
the least waste in the Index. CO2 emissions from
electricity consumption also fall below the Index
average. The city ranks below average in trans-
port, sanitation, air quality and environmental
governance. Challenges here are an underdevel-
oped public transport network, one of the low-
est sanitation access rates in the Index and limit-
ed policies to improve air quality.

Energy and CO2: Well above average
Addis Ababa’s performance in this category is
driven by very low rates of electricity consump-
tion and CO2 emissions from electricity. Electrici-
ty consumption per capita is among the lowest in
the Index, at 1.8 gigajoules, compared with the
overall average of 6.4 gigajoules. Estimated CO2
emissions per capita from electricity consump-
tion are 16 kg per capita, versus the Index aver-
age of 984 kg. Nearly 90% of Addis Ababa’s
electricity is produced from renewable energy
sources, the bulk of which is hydropower. An
increase in dam construction is ensuring cheaper
electricity to Addis and an estimated 97% of its
households have access to electricity. Prime
Minister Meles Zenawi is particularly proud of
the proposal for the Renaissance Dam on the
Nile, which he claims will supply enough electric-

density of about 5,200 residents per square kilo-
metre – the third highest in the Index. According
to official figures, an estimated 18% of the city
population lives in informal settlements, well
below the Index average of 38%. However,
depending on definitions of informal settle-
ments, other sources put the figure higher.
Green spaces are limited, at 37 square metres
per person in the city, versus the Index average
of 74 square metres. While the city generally
scores well for land use policy, particularly on
urban sprawl containment, Addis Ababa could
further improve green space protection. The city
says it plans to establish new parks (see “green
initiatives”) but the opportunistic building of
hotels and apartment blocks remains a problem.
A unique characteristic of Addis within Africa is
the integration of the poor. Most African cities

the city’s most important initiatives is an
attempt by the Ethiopian Institute of Architec-
ture, Building Construction and City Develop-
ment (EiABC) to develop green building codes.
Supported by the Swiss Federal Institute for
Technology, the EiABC has contracted local pri-
vate developers to design cheap and green
building materials. In particular, the organisa-
tion focuses on substituting Chinese-imported
steel and glass with local stone, wood and adobe
(a mix of sand, clay and straw) to cut building
costs by up to a third, and raise environmental
and aesthetic standards.

Transport: Below average
Underdeveloped public transport infrastructure
and policy shortcomings account for Addis
Ababa’s performance in this category. The city’s

e = EIU Estimate

well
below

average

below
average

average above
average

well
above

average

Performance

Energy and CO2

Land use

Transport

Waste

Water

Sanitation

Air quality

Environmental governance

Overall result

Addis Ababa Other cities

The order of the dots within the performance bands has no bearing on the cities’ results.


Quantitative indicators

Category Indicator Average

ENERGY and CO2 Proportion of households with access to electricity (%) 84.2

Electricity consumption per capita (GJ/inhabitant) 6.4

CO2 emissions from electricity consumption per person (kg/person) 983.9


LAND USE Population density (persons/km2) 4,578.1

Population living in informal settlements (%) 38.0

Green spaces per person (m2/person) 73.6

TRANSPORT Length of mass transport network (km/km2) 2.7

Superior public transport network (km/km2) 0.07

WASTE Waste generated per person (kg/person/year) 407.8

WATER Population with access to potable water (%) 91.2

Water consumption per person (litres per person per day) 187.2

Water system leakages (%) 30.5

SANITATION Population with access to sanitation (%) 84.1

air entrapped by the mountains, heavy traffic
and high emissions from older vehicles. Studies
by the Ethiopian Forum for the Environment
show that more than 65% of the vehicles on the
road in Addis are over 15 years old – many are
Russian Lada cars that form the majority of
Addis’s taxi fleet. The burning of rubbish and
open fires is another contributor. The city has
relatively weak air quality policies to improve the
situation – there is no code to improve air quali-
ty, for example, nor any monitoring of air pollu-
tants.

Green initiatives: The Ethiopian government
acknowledges the problem and has plans to
gradually replace automobiles in the city with
electric-powered cars, using tax incentives,
although details are limited.

Environmental governance:
Below average
While Addis Ababa has a department dedicated
to green issues and policy implementation, it

38 39

public transport system relies heavily on
Anbessa, the state-owned bus company, which
has a fleet of more than 500 buses, comple-
mented by 12,000 private minibuses. The length
of the city’s mass transport network is not far
behind the Index average – an estimated 2.2 km
per square kilometre, versus the Index average
of 2.7 km. But the system itself is outdated and
unable to meet demand. Addis Ababa is also one
of five Index cities yet to build any form of supe-
rior public transport, such as subways, trams,
light-rail or bus rapid transit lines. Addis benefits
from a relatively cohesive culture, with income
disparity lower than in many other African cities.
This means that the city’s office workers are
more likely to travel to work on public transport

than in other African cities. For example, some
40% of commuters use the Anbessa buses. By
2020, with population growth, Anbessa estimates
it will be serving 6 million customers in and around
Addis. In addition, Addis Ababa does have a rela-
tively sophisticated traffic management system,
but has yet to introduce any car-pooling lanes,
no-car days or other congestion-reduction initia-
tives. The city also drops points for not taking
any steps to reduce emissions from mass urban
transport, as well as failing to encourage citizens
to take greener forms of transport.

Green initiatives: Addis has seen major Chinese-
funded investment in its city roads – an amount
estimated at over US$1 billion by 2015. Traffic
congestion has eased with the completion of the
Chinese-backed Gotera Interchange on the city’s
planned ring road. Additionally, plans are under-
way to build a light rail line, expected to transport
20,000 passengers a day, though no concrete
dates for this project have been announced.

Waste: Average
Addis Ababa generates the least waste in the
Index, at 160 kg per person, on average, per
year. Although much lower than the Index aver-
age of 408 kg, the city still struggles to cope.
There is only one main landfill site, at Koshe-
Repi in southwest Addis, which dates back to
the 1960s. City-wide waste collection is absent;
instead, city neighbourhoods (“kebeles”) are
responsible for collecting rubbish. This is done
in partnership with private companies, but
collection costs remain high. In policy areas,
Addis Ababa is one of only three cities in the
Index that does not encourage proper waste
management by citizens, failing to impose
basic measures such as bans on littering and
making waste dumping illegal. Collection
points for recyclable material are also absent.
Addis Ababa fares slightly better in the collec-
tion and disposal of special waste, having facili-

ties to cope with chemical and pharmaceutical
rubbish. As with the majority of cities in the
Index, however, Addis Ababa has no collection
and disposal facilities for household hazardous
waste.

Green initiatives: The city says it is committed
to opening new landfill sites in the Doro, Dertu-
Mojo, Bole and Yeka Abado districts distributed
across the city. The government has also
announced its intention to limit the use of plas-
tic in local packaging and increase composting,
in an effort to reduce the amount of waste des-
tined for landfills. However, details are scarce.
Recycling remains limited but is likely to increase
with the establishment of central recycling
depots for metal and plastic, the authorities say,
within the next year.

Water: Above average
Addis Ababa has one of the lowest rates of per
capita water consumption in the Index, measur-
ing 57 litres per day, compared with the Index
average of 187 litres. An estimated 99% of the
city’s population has access to some form of
potable water, according to UN Habitat, above
the Index average of 91%. However, the water
delivery infrastructure in Addis is badly built
and often does not adequately serve the poor.
The actual water supply is plentiful, with an
abundant water table and reservoirs. In Index
cities where drinking water is so widely avail-
able, water consumption is typically much high-
er than in Addis Ababa. Water delivery could
improve with better management and if pay-
ment of bills using mobile phones were more
widespread in Ethiopia. The city also has a
water system that is less profligate than that
of most cities covered in the Index – it loses
20% to leaks, versus the Index average of 30%.
In terms of policies and initiatives surrounding
water efficiency, the city has room for improve-
ment.

fails to meet any of the criteria set by the Index
for either environmental monitoring or public
participation. No baseline environmental review
has been conducted in the last five years, and
no information has recently been published on
environmental performance and progress.
Addis Ababa is also the only city in the Index
that does not involve citizens, non-governmen-
tal organisations or other stakeholders in deci-
sion-making surrounding projects of major
environmental impact. Despite its environ-
mental department, the city of Addis has only
limited control of its environmental future. It
serves as a loyal arm of the national govern-
ment. However, given the government ambi-
tion to limit imports and improve efficiencies,
and the communal nature of the city, there are
good prospects for improved environmental
governance. The bigger challenge for the city
will be translating laws into meaningful
enforcement, especially laws regulating state-
run enterprises and ministries that are not used
to oversight.

All data applies to Addis Ababa unless stated otherwise below. * Where data from different years were used only the year of the main indicator is listed. e = EIU Estimate. 1) National electricity generation mix used to estimate city level
CO2 data, 2) Number of bus routes (88) multiplied by average length of bus route (13.5 km), 3) There are no subway, tram, light-rail or BRT lines

Addis Ababa Year* Source

96.9 e 2005 UN Habitat

1.8 2009 The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation

15.7 1e 2009 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse
Gas Inventories

5,196.3 e 2007 EIU calculation

18.3 e 2007 Addis Ababa City Administration, Land Administration Office

36.5 2007 Addis Ababa Environmental Protection Authority

2.2 2e 2009 Anbesa City Bus Service Enterprise

0.00 3 2009 Federal Transport Authority, Addis Ababa Branch Office

160.0 2004 Ethiopian Development Research Institute

99.0 e 2005 UN Habitat

56.7 2009 Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority

20.0 2009 Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority

71.8 e 2005 UN Habitat

Sanitation: Below average
There are major sanitation challenges in Addis
Ababa. Access to sanitation is limited to 72% of
the population, according to estimates by UN
Habitat, but access for many people means
shared toilets and communal washing facilities.
Often there are not enough of these, and water-
borne diseases are common as a result of defe-
cation on open ground, and directly into
streams and rivers. Even in richer neighbour-
hoods, overflowing sewers are not an uncom-
mon sight. The city lacks adequate wastewater
treatment facilities, with an estimated less than
20% treated, and there is no regular monitoring
of sanitation facilities. However, the city is mak-
ing some attempts to impose regulations
requiring new apartment buildings to manage
their own sewage according to stricter guide-
lines.

Air quality: Below average
Air quality in Addis Ababa is widely regarded as
among the poorest in Africa, largely because of


40 41

Alexandria_Egypt

Background indicators
Total population (million) 4.4

Administrative area (km2) 2,300

Population density (persons/km2) 1,900

nology Fund (CTF), a multi-donor trust fund
providing financing for low carbon technolo-
gies with potential for reducing greenhouse gas
emissions. Egypt has its own US$350 million
CTF Investment Plan, which involves a combina-
tion of renewable energy production and clean
transport projects, although it is unclear how
much of the budget will be allocated to projects
in or around Alexandria. Under the renewable
energy scheme, Egypt hopes to meet 20% of its
energy needs from renewable energy by 2020,
and to build 7,200 megawatts of wind genera-
tion capacity alone. Of this, construction of
facilities to generate 400 megawatts has
already been financed and plans have been
developed for facilities to generate another
600 megawatts.

Land use: Below average
Alexandria is marked down in the Index for
having a relatively low population density at
1,900 people per square kilometre compared
with the Index average of 4,600 and also for
having fewer green spaces than other cities in
the Index. Alexandria offers less than 1 square
metre per person versus an Index average of
74 square metres. Much of the green space that
does exist in Alexandria is along the beachfront
and is privately owned. 31% of Alexandria’s pop-
ulation lives in informal settlements, compared
with the Index average of 38%. Regarding poli-
cies, there is some protection for green space
and environmentally sensitive areas, and a strat-
egy is in place to connect informal settlements
to municipal services such as street lighting and
pedestrian walkways.

Green initiatives: Between 2004 and 2006 the
World Bank helped Alexandria create its first city
development strategy, using a grant from the

Cities Alliance, a multi-donor trust fund run by
the World Bank and UN Habitat. Local and inter-
national consultants compiled five reports
detailing a development strategy for Alexandria
through to 2017. One of the major results of the
work was the Alexandria Governate Pole Project,
which focused on sustainable economic growth.
The project’s objectives include environmental
regeneration, supporting private development
and improving access to basic services for peo-
ple living in informal settlements. This includes
upgrades to six informal neighbourhoods in the
city by improving infrastructure and basic ser-
vices, setting up community facilities, and in -
creasing access to credit and business support.
A number of new projects have been developed
as a result of the strategy, including a policy to
ensure the protection of coastal areas and a
pollution abatement project.

Transport: Average
Of all cities in the Index, Alexandria has the most
comprehensive traffic management measures
in place, including traffic light sequencing and
traffic information systems, among others. It is
also relatively strong on congestion reduction
measures, including pedestrian zones. But it is
marked down in the Index for a relatively under-
developed public transport network. At just
under 1 km per square kilometre, the city’s mass
transport network falls short of the Index aver-
age of 2.7 km per square kilometre. Alexandria’s
superior transport network – defined in the
Index as comprising subways, trams, light-rail or
bus rapid transit lines – consists of two tram -
ways measuring 0.02 km per square kilometre,
compared with the Index average of 0.07. The
government 20 years ago announced the inten-
tion to build a 44 km metro system along the
coast, but these plans have not moved forward.

African Green City Index

Alexandria is the second most populous cityin Egypt after Cairo. Located between the
Mediterranean Sea and Lake Mariout, Alexan-
dria has a population of 4.4 million across a met-
ropolitan area covering 2,300 square kilome-
tres. This makes it one of the least densely
populated cities in the African Green City Index.
Alexandria has grown significantly in the past
40 years, spurred on by rural-urban migration.
It is home to 40% of Egypt’s industry, which
includes iron and steel, petroleum, cement and
petrochemicals. Around 60% of Egypt’s foreign
trade is handled through Alexandria’s port and
the nearby El Dekheila port. The city is also an
important historical, cultural and religious hub
in Egypt, second only to Cairo. Alexandria is ranked
average overall in the Index. The city is well

above average in the waste category, with some
of the best waste management policies among
the 15 cities evaluated in the Index. It has also
been assisted in this area in recent years by for-
eign aid. Alexandria is average in the categories
of energy and CO2, transport, sanitation, air qua l i -
ty and environmental governance, with relative-
ly high rates of access to electricity and potable
water. The city falls to below average in the wa -
ter category because of a high rate of con sump -
tion and less developed policies in this area.

Energy and CO2: Average
It is estimated that almost 100% of households
in Alexandria have access to electricity. Still, CO2
emissions and electricity consumption are rela-
tively low. Based on national figures, it is esti-

mated that Alexandria generates nearly 70% of
its electricity using natural gas, with 12% com-
ing from renewable sources. The city emits an
estimated 353 kg of CO2 per capita from electric-
ity consumption against an Index average of
984 kg. Electricity consumption, at an estimated
5.7 giga joules per capita, is marginally below the
Index average of 6.4 gigajoules. Energy strategy
in Egypt is driven by the national government,
which is investing in numerous projects (see
“green initiatives” below). However, the city is
only undertaking limited efforts to source ener-
gy from renewable sources.

Green initiatives: Green initiatives in energy
happen at the national level in Egypt. The coun-
try as a whole is a beneficiary of the Clean Tech-

well
below

average

below
average

average above
average

well
above

average

Performance

Energy and CO2

Land use

Transport

Waste

Water

Sanitation

Air quality

Environmental governance

Overall result

Alexandria Other cities

The order of the dots within the performance bands has no bearing on the cities’ results.


Quantitative indicators

Category Indicator Average

ENERGY and CO2 Proportion of households with access to electricity (%) 84.2

Electricity consumption per capita (GJ/inhabitant) 6.4

CO2 emissions from electricity consumption per person (kg/person) 983.9

LAND USE Population density (persons/km2) 4,578.1

Population living in informal settlements (%) 38.0

Green spaces per person (m2/person) 73.6

TRANSPORT Length of mass transport network (km/km2) 2.7

Superior public transport network (km/km2) 0.07

WASTE Waste generated per person (kg/person/year) 407.8

WATER Population with access to potable water (%) 91.2

Water consumption per person (litres per person per day) 187.2

Water system leakages (%) 30.5

SANITATION Population with access to sanitation (%) 84.1

The city has several main thoroughfares; the
coastal road, which runs parallel to the sea and is
the main traffic artery in the city, experiences
severe traffic congestion during rush hours.

Green initiatives: The national government is
considering rolling out its taxi scrapping and
recycling scheme in Alexandria, which has had
considerable success in Cairo. Under the Cairo
scheme, taxis more than 20 years old are being
recycled with the aim of replacing around
45,000 to 50,000 over the course of the project.
In April 2009 the Ministry of Finance launched
the taxi scrapping scheme with the initial focus
on private taxis. The scheme will be expanded to
mass transport vehicles over time. Alexandria is
one of the cities on the list for potential expan-
sion but no further plans have been announced.

Waste: Well above average
Alexandria has particularly strong policies on
waste recycling and reuse when compared with
the other 14 cities in the Index. It has on-site and
central collection points for recyclables, and
accepts a wide range of materials for recycling.
The city also enforces environmental standards
for waste disposal sites and is the only city in the
Index to regulate waste pickers – residents who
informally scavenge for recyclables and reusable
items. The amount of waste generated by the
city’s inhabitants, at an estimated average of
209 kg per year, is around half the Index average
of 408 kg. Since 2000 Alexandria has employed
international contractors, with financial assis-
tance from the US Agency for International
Development (USAID), to collect and dispose of
the city’s waste. In addition, the government has
focused on enhancing private sector participa-
tion in the cleaning process and on integrated
solid waste management. This privatised system
limits the government’s role to monitoring while
at the same time involving citizens by adding
collection fees to residents’ electricity bills.

Green initiatives: In August 2011 the national
government in partnership with Korean investors
opened a new chemical waste management
plant in Alexandria. The plant is the first of its
kind in the region to deal primarily with mercury
waste, which is found in fluorescent lamps. The
government first proposed the plant in 2007 to
combat the problem of mismanaged mercury
disposal, which is harmful to plant life and fish.
According to the national government Egypt
produces 40 million fluorescent bulbs annually
and 8 million are discarded as general waste.
Furthermore, landfills used by the city have two
methane gas capture projects, which were
established in 2006 by a private contractor.
Methane is captured and disposed of through

flaring, which limits the amount of greenhouse
gases released into the atmosphere. The project
is estimated to have prevented approximately
171,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions from escaping
into the atmosphere between February 2010
and April 2011.

Water: Below Average
According to UN Habitat, an estimated 99% of
Alexandria’s population has access to potable
water. The city relies heavily on the River Nile for
its water supply and has a relatively high level of
consumption, at 351 litres per person per day,
versus the Index average of 187 litres. The city
also loses 36% of its water through leakages,
compared with the Index average of 30%,
although some effort is made by city authorities
to encourage greater water efficiency. However,
Alexandria’s regulations on water pollution stan-
dards for local industry are not always strictly
enforced.

Green initiatives: A major research project
funded by the European Commission, known as
SWITCH Urban Water, has provided an assess-

Global Environmental Facility grant for the
Alexandria Coastal Zone Management Project.
The project aims to improve institutional man-
agement of the Alexandria coastal zone and
reduce pollution in the Mediterranean Sea and
Lake Mariout.

Sanitation: Average
A relatively large percentage of Alexandria’s
population has access to sanitation, at an esti-
mated 94%, compared with the Index average of
84%. However, despite investment by outside
agencies (see “green initiatives” below), which
has improved the situation, the city’s waste-
water treatment standards could be better.
Alexandria is also marked down for a lack of
monitoring of on-site sanitation facilities in
homes and communal areas.

Green initiatives: Since 1987 the US Agency
for International Development (USAID) has run
a programme to support improvements in
wastewater collection, pumping, treatment
and disposal. The agency invested an initial
US$425 million in the construction of 211 km

treatment plants. The aim was to fully prevent
the discharge of raw waste into the lake. The
programme also worked to prevent the dump-
ing of industrial waste in the lake by installing fil-
ters and treatment plants.

Air quality: Average
Alexandria scores well for regularly monitoring
air quality in different city locations and for mea-
suring a wide range of pollutants. The city is
marked down for a lack of public awareness
campaigns around air pollution, although the
same can be said about the majority of Index
cities. The air quality in Alexandria is poor, large-
ly because of traffic congestion and industry,
but its proximity to the Mediterranean Sea helps
disperse some air pollution.

Green initiatives: The Egypt Pollution Abate-
ment Project is a scheme to help the country
reduce industrial pollution. The programme,
which is sponsored by the World Bank, encour-
ages voluntary environmental management
and sustainable financing, as well as introducing
mechanisms for the enforcement of environ-

mental legislation. Under the project, public and
private businesses receive help to bring their
emissions in compliance with the country’s envi-
ronment protection law. Specific projects carried
out under the scheme have included minimising
waste, preventing pollution and adopting clean
technology. The programme also has made a
number of recommendations to the authorities,
including the strengthening of partnerships
between banks and international organisations,
the promotion of community participation in
environmental issues and the encouragement
of businesses to adopt cleaner policies and prac-
tices. In addition, a vehicle exhausts inspection
programme has been implemented in 12 gover-
norates, including Alexandria, in cooperation
with the Ministry of Interior. The Ministry of
Environmental Affairs has also implemented a
programme to change the fuel used by public
transport vehicles to natural gas.

Environmental governance:
Average
The national government sets environmental
policy for the city. It has an executive arm

42 43

ment of Alexandria’s water requirements and
examined options for meeting expected demand
up to 2037. The project aims to reduce extrac-
tions from the Nile by 20%. The research looked
at a range of options to better meet Alexandria’s
water requirements, including improved water
efficiency and the upgrading of wastewater
plants. Among those that were examined in
more detail were minimising losses from the
pipe network, maximising household water use
and increasing the cost of water to customers.
The study encouraged the government to intro-
duce standards for appliances such as toilets,
showers, taps, washing machines and dish-
washers at a national level. These remain recom-
mendations at this point. Additionally, in 2010
the World Bank approved a US$7.2 million

of sewer pipes, six pumping stations, two treat-
ment plants and a sludge disposal facility. An
additional US$113 million was invested to
expand treatment capacity. The project has
helped the city treat two thirds of its wastewater,
and has largely eliminated sewage collecting in
the streets and discharges into the Mediter-
ranean Sea. In addition, one of the most impor-
tant improvements in the management of water
and wastewater in Alexandria is the clean-up of
Lake Mariout. Before the initiative, municipal
wastewater was allowed to drain untreated into
the lake. The clean-up, which was part of the city
strategy drawn up with assistance from interna-
tional organisations, involved the construction
of several small wastewater treatment plants
and the upgrading of two existing wastewater

responsible for drafting and implementing envi-
ronmental policy. Alexandria scores well for reg-
ularly publishing reports on its environmental
performance and progress – it is one of only a
few cities in the Index to do so. Moreover,
Alexandria recently conducted a baseline envi-
ronmental review in the water and air quality
categories. However, like most cities in the
Index, Alexandria does not offer its citizens a
central contact point for information on envi-
ronmental performance and projects. The city’s
governance has benefitted from outside inter-
vention by aid agencies mentioned above,
including outlining strategies for development,
waste and water system upgrades.

Green initiatives: In May 2011 the national
government announced plans to discuss creat-
ing an environmental information sharing sys-
tem between Europe and Arab countries in the
southern and eastern Mediterranean regions.
The goal would be to develop common environ-
mental indicators, environmental reporting
norms and processes for data sharing between
these countries.

All data applies to Alexandria unless stated otherwise below. * Where data from different years were used only the year of the main indicator is listed. e = EIU Estimate. 1) National data used as proxy for city level data.
2) National electricity generation mix used to estimate city level CO2 data. 3) Data refer to gardens and public parks only. 4) There are no subway or BRT lines. 5) Data refer to “unaccounted for water”

Alexandria Year* Source

99.9 e 2005 UN Habitat

5.7 1e 2006 Egyptian Electricity Holding Company

352.7 2e 2006 Egyptian Electricity Holding Company

1,895.8 2010 EIU calculation

31.2 2007 SWITCH stakeholder analysis report for Alexandria

0.4 3e 2006 CAPMAS

1.0 2008 CAPMAS

0.02 4 2008 Alexandria Passenger Transport Authority

209.2 e 2007 Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency

98.8 e 2005 UN Habitat

350.7 2009 SWITCH urban system water modelling report for Alexandria

36.3 5 2007 SWITCH urban system water modelling report for Alexandria

94.1 e 2005 UN Habitat


44 45

Cairo_Egypt

multi-donor trust fund to provide financing for
low-carbon technologies with the potential for
reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Egypt
announced a US$350 million CTF investment
plan in April 2011 that involves a combination of
renewable energy production, clean transport
and solid waste management projects. Under its
renewable energy scheme, Egypt hopes to meet
20% of its energy needs from renewable energy
by 2020 and to build 7,200 megawatts of wind
generation capacity alone. Of this, construction
of facilities to generate 400 megawatts has
already been financed and plans have been
developed for facilities to generate another
600 megawatts. In addition, the government
has announced it will construct three pilot
waste-to-energy plants in partnership with a pri-
vate company.

In 2009 it attracted more than two million visi-
tors and has contributed to improving the city’s
air quality. The Al-Azhar park development was
carried out by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, an
agency of the Geneva-based Aga Khan Develop-
ment Network, in partnership with the Gover-
norate of Cairo.

Transport: Above average
Cairo benefits from a relatively long mass trans-
port network as well as a new metro system. The
Greater Cairo area has the second longest supe-
rior public transport network in the Index
(defined as metro, trams, light rail or bus rapid
transit), at 0.2 km per square kilometre, com-
pared with the Index average of 0.07 km, and it
is being expanded. The first stations on the city’s
third metro line will be operational in 2012. By

Cairo is the capital city of Egypt. Locatedalongside the River Nile, Greater Cairo is
home to just under 20 million people and
encompasses the governorates of Cairo, Giza
and Qalyubia. For reasons of data availability
and comparability, data included in the African
Green City Index are based on a mix of statistics
for Greater Cairo and the inner Cairo Gover-
norate. An estimated 7.1 million inhabitants
occupy the 370 square kilometre area within
Cairo Governorate; it is consequently the most
densely populated city in the Index, with an
estimated 19,100 people per square kilometre,
compared with the Index average of 4,600.

Cairo is average overall in the Index. The city
ranks above average in the transport category,
thanks largely to the length of its metro system,
operational since 1987, although chronic traffic

congestion is still a serious problem. Cairo also
performs well for having a relatively high share
of the population with access to electricity and
potable water. The city ranks average in most
other categories. The social upheaval in early
2011 that led to the resignation of President
Mubarak ushered in multiple changes of gov-
ernment and a continually shifting political
landscape. However, already this year the
national government has announced several
environmental initiatives that are detailed
below.

Energy and CO2: Average
UN Habitat estimates that almost all households
in Cairo have access to electricity, but the city
fares less well in curbing electricity consump-
tion. On average, Cairo consumes 8.0 gigajoules

of electricity per capita, compared with the
Index average of 6.4 gigajoules. Despite high
electricity consumption, CO2 emissions from
electricity are an estimated 477 kg per capita,
less than half of the Index average of 984 kg.
Nearly 70% of the city’s electricity production
is based on natural gas. During the summer
months, the use of energy rises and the govern-
ment in March 2011 announced measures to
meet the soaring demand with generators pow-
ered by natural gas. Plans are under way to
increase the country’s use of renewable energy
(see “green initiatives”), which today accounts
for around 12% of national electricity produc-
tion.

Green initiatives: Egypt is a beneficiary of the
Clean Technology Fund (CTF), an international,

Land use: Average
Cairo’s high population density bolsters its per-
formance in the land use category. On the other
hand, with less than an estimated 1 square metre
of green space per person the city falls well
below the Index average of 74 square metres.
Around a third of Cairo’s population is estimated
to live in informal settlements, primarily located
in the city’s outskirts and historic centre.

Green initiatives: For centuries, the Al-Darrasa
site, located outside the boundary of historic Old
Cairo, was used as a place for dumping debris
and rubble from the city. With the 2005 inaugu-
ration of the Al-Azhar Park, a 30-hectare devel-
opment in Al-Darrasa, this has changed. The
park, which provides a 360-degree panoramic
view of historic Cairo, has been a huge success.

2022 the city is planning to add another three
metro lines; it is hoping to attract new funding
as part of a public-private investment partner-
ship. The well-run metro system apart, the city’s
public transport services are otherwise over-
crowded and often unreliable. Traffic on the
roads can be chaotic and congested. With out-
side funding assistance, however, plans are now
in place to tackle traffic pollution and conges-
tion (see “green initiatives” below). The govern-
ment has also announced plans to invest in
several improvements to the city’s transport
infrastructure, including new roads, river-based
transport and encouraging cycling.

Green initiatives: A major programme is under
way to improve traffic congestion and reduce
polluting emissions from public transport vehi-

Background indicators
Total population (million)e 7.1

Administrative area (km2) 370

Population density (persons/km2) e 19,100

African Green City Index

e = EIU Estimate

well
below

average

below
average

average above
average

well
above

average

Performance

Energy and CO2

Land use

Transport

Waste

Water

Sanitation

Air quality

Environmental governance

Overall result

Cairo Other cities

The order of the dots within the performance bands has no bearing on the cities’ results.


Quantitative indicators

Category Indicator Average

ENERGY and CO2 Proportion of households with access to electricity (%) 84.2

Electricity consumption per capita (GJ/inhabitant) 6.4

CO2 emissions from electricity consumption per person (kg/person) 983.9

LAND USE Population density (persons/km2) 4,578.1

Population living in informal settlements (%) 38.0

Green spaces per person (m2/person) 73.6

TRANSPORT Length of mass transport network (km/km2) 2.7

Superior public transport network (km/km2) 0.07

WASTE Waste generated per person (kg/person/year) 407.8

WATER Population with access to potable water (%) 91.2

Water consumption per person (litres per person per day) 187.2

Water system leakages (%) 30.5

SANITATION Population with access to sanitation (%) 84.1

improve awareness of health and environmen-
tal issues, to provide education and training to
local residents, and to restore historic buildings
in the quarter.

Air quality: Average
During the past decade the national govern-
ment set up 13 air pollutant monitoring sta-
tions in Greater Cairo, and parts of the Nile delta
and upper Egypt region. Of these, six are in the
governorates of Cairo and Giza. Although air
quality is monitored in different parts of the
city, a combination of severe traffic pollution
and dust from the desert south of the city
makes air quality in Cairo extremely poor. In the
autumn smoke from farmers burning rice straw
following the harvest also contributes to air pol-
lution. However, the fact that the bulk of the
city is paved, particularly in central districts,
means that dust generated from the city itself is
not as severe as in many African cities. The city’s
performance in this category is also bolstered
by the presence of a strategy to improve local
air quality. The government recently reported
that it had achieved the best air quality in a

decade in the city following investments in air
quality improvements (see “green initiatives”
below).

Green initiatives: The national government
spent US$1.2 billion to improve air quality in
Greater Cairo and the rest of the country
between 2006 and 2010. There were several
projects involved in the programme, including
moving polluting industries out of populated
areas, increasing waste collections in informal
areas (and thereby reducing waste burning in
informal settlements), tree planting and
improving Greater Cairo’s network of air moni-
toring stations. The national government is try-
ing to limit vehicle emissions by converting gov-
ernment cars from petrol to compressed natural
gas (CNG), introducing unleaded petrol, creat-
ing a national programme for vehicle testing
and rehabilitating old taxis. The government
has instituted fines for the burning of rice
husks, which contributes to air pollution in the
autumn after the harvest, and has also provided
several hundred special compressors to farmers
as an alternative to disposing of the husks.

46 47

cles. The work is being carried out through two
schemes – the Egypt Urban Transport Infrastruc-
ture Development Project and the Carbon
Finance Vehicle Scrapping and Recycling Pro-
gramme. Both initiatives are being developed
with financial assistance from the World Bank
and the multi-donor Clean Technology Fund.
The urban transport project includes the provi-
sion of 1,100 new fuel-efficient buses to replace
the old fleet, the construction of six bus rapid
transit corridors and improvements to the traffic
management system. In addition, the govern-
ment wants to promote the use of the river for
commercial transport as an alternative to using
the countries’ roads, and thereby reducing traf-
fic congestion. Plans include funding a manage-
ment system to help coordinate river transport,
and a committee has been established at the
national level to improve safety for river travel.
The government has also launched a pilot
scheme in an area of Greater Cairo to encourage
residents to ride bicycles, including a public
information campaign to encourage cycling, the
installation of bicycle racks and the sale of bicy-
cles at discounted prices.

Waste: Below average
Cairo generates an estimated 457 kg of waste
per person per year, more than the Index aver-
age of 408 kg. Waste collection is a challenge
and piles of waste are commonplace, particular-
ly in the poorer parts of the city’s historic centre.
The prevalence of informal settlements has
made waste collection difficult. While several
private waste collection companies operate in
the city, zabbaleen, waste-collectors from the
poorer neighbourhoods who try to make a living
from informal payments, also contribute signifi-
cantly to waste collection and are considered
more efficient than private companies. Despite
the challenges, Cairo has introduced a policy
aimed at encouraging recycling and reuse of
waste.

Green initiatives: The government has suc-
ceeded in transferring 15 million cubic metres of
accumulated municipal waste from the residen-
tial areas of greater Cairo to controlled dumping
sites, according to the Egyptian Environmental
Affairs Agency. In another initiative, a German
government agency, GIZ, is carrying out a pro-
ject to help improve waste management in two
poor urban areas in Greater Cairo: Khanka and
Khossos. The project includes an analysis of the
current system for waste collection, segregation
and recycling, and the development of a new
solid waste management strategy that empha-
sises the role of the informal sector. The Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation has provided a grant
of US$5.3 million towards the project.

Water: Average
Cairo consumes 237 litres of water per capita per
day, more than the Index average of 187 litres. This
is coupled with an above average high leakage
rate of 35%. Although UN Habitat estimates that
almost 100% of residents have access to potable
water, compared with the Index average of 91%,
the quality of water in Cairo is sometimes poor.
Wealthier residents have their own water filtra-
tion systems, while visitors to the city drink

bottled water. Those who cannot afford such
measures are susceptible to a variety of water-
borne diseases. Cairo’s residents should benefit,
however, from a national initiative to improve
the water quality of the River Nile (see “green ini-
tiatives” below), Cairo’s main source of drinking
water.

Green initiatives: The national government
has adopted 12 programmes for the protection
of the River Nile. Measures include: preventing
the flow of industrial effluents into the Nile; pre-
venting sanitary drainage; managing waste
from Nile river vessels; treatment of agricultural
waste; solid waste management; periodic moni-
toring of water cleanliness; and developing a
water quality database. Five plants have been
established to receive waste from river cruisers,
including one at Cairo. The plants are equipped
to safely dispose of the waste in the sanitary
drainage networks.

Sanitation: Average
An estimated 98% of Cairo’s population has
access to sanitation. Even so, the standard of
sanitation services can vary enormously. In
some parts of the city, such as Ma’adi and
Zamalek, sanitation is provided to a high stan-
dard. In other parts, particularly in the historic
centre, sanitation is provided to a lower stan-
dard, with one facility serving many people or
facilities not connected to the sewage system.
The government is hoping to fund new waste-
water projects as part of an overarching public-
private partnership investment which was
announced recently.

Green initiatives: The Aga Khan Trust for Cul-
ture has undertaken a programme to rehabili-
tate water and sanitation facilities in the Darb
al-Ahmar quarter of Cairo’s Old City. The sewer-
age system, which previously did not reach all
the houses, has been extended, and lead pipes
have been replaced. The programme was car-
ried out in conjunction with measures to

Environmental governance: Average
National agencies oversee environmental policy
and monitoring in Cairo. The national environ-
ment ministry is responsible for the formulation
and application of environmental policies. The
ministry has an executive arm that is responsible
for elaborating environmental policy, oversee-
ing implementation of policy, and carrying out
pilot projects designed to preserve natural
resources and prevent pollution. The city’s per-
formance in this category is helped by its regular
monitoring of environmental performance, and
some inclusion of citizens and non-governmen-
tal organisations in the decision-making process
on environmental projects.

Green initiatives: In May 2011 the national
government announced plans to discuss creat-
ing an environmental information sharing sys-
tem between Europe and Arab countries in the
southern and eastern Mediterranean regions.
The goal would be to develop common environ-
mental indicators, environmental reporting
norms and processes for data sharing between
these countries.

All data applies to Cairo unless stated otherwise below. * Where data from different years were used only the year of the main indicator is listed. e = EIU Estimate. 1) National electricity generation mix used to estimate city level CO2
data. 2) Greater Cairo area. 3) There are no light rail or BRT lines

Cairo Year* Source

99.7 e 2005 UN Habitat

8.0 2006 Egypt Information Portal

477.0 1e 2007 Egypt Information Portal

19,083.5 2010 EIU calculation

31.3 e 2005 IDSC Egypt Information and Decision Support Centre

0.8 e 2007 CAPMAS

7.3 2 2008 CAPMAS

0.24 2, 3 2008 CAPMAS

456.9 e 2007 Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency

99.6 e 2005 UN Habitat

237.0 2 2009 OECD

35.0 2e 2007 Egyptian Holding Company for Water and Wastewater

98.2 e 2006 Egypt Information Portal


48 49

Cape Town_South Africa

Background indicators
Total population (million) 3.7

Administrative area (km2) 2,500

Population density (persons/km2) 1,500

Index average of 84%. Although Cape Town is
marked down for its CO2 emissions and electrici-
ty consumption, the city has the most robust
clean energy policies in the Index, including its
Energy and Climate Change Action Plan (see
“green initiatives” below). It is also making
efforts to source more renewable energy,
including wind power.

Green initiatives: City officials have drafted a
comprehensive Energy and Climate Change
Action Plan, which identifies 11 key objectives.
While the plan covers a broad range of sectors,
including transport and education, the first
objective calls for a 10% reduction in electricity
use city-wide by 2012; in the second objective
the city aims to source 10% of its energy from
renewable sources by 2020; and the third man-
dates a 10% reduction in energy consumption
from council operations by 2012. Already 130
projects are under way across the city as a result
of the plan. Programmes to achieve its goals
include installing 300,000 solar water heaters
across the city by 2015 and retrofitting public
buildings with energy efficient lights.

Land use: Well above average
With just 1,500 people per square kilometre,
versus an overall average of 4,600, Cape Town
has the second lowest population density in the
Index. It has grown rapidly over the past decade
and faces the challenge familiar to other African
cities of finding the right balance between envi-
ronmental sustainability and economic necessi-
ty. The city has approached this dilemma proac-
tively, implementing measures to contain urban
sprawl that are currently being updated (see
“green initiatives”). Home to multiple nature
reserves containing some of the world’s rarest
plant species, Cape Town has the most green

space in the Index. The city boasts an estimated
289 square metres of green space per person,
about four times the Index average of 74 square
metres. A local environmental resource man-
agement department oversees Cape Town’s
green spaces and environmentally sensitive
areas. The city also has a robust set of policies to
protect these areas. Furthermore it has the sec-
ond lowest share of its population living in infor-
mal settlements, at an estimated 17% compared
with the Index average of 38%.

Green initiatives: As part of the Climate
Change Action Plan, the city has updated its
development guidelines, which address urban
sprawl, among many other issues. The new
plan, currently with the Western Cape provincial
government for approval, also promotes sus-
tainable building design, construction and reno-
vation. The city is looking to adopt urban plan-
ning principles that encourage non-motorised
transport and create more open spaces that can
be used for recreation.

Transport: Above average
Cape Town has invested US$5.8 billion over the
last six years in developing a new bus rapid tran-
sit (BRT) network (see “green initiatives”). As a
result, it is among the top cities in the Index for
the length of superior forms of transport, such
as metro, tram or BRT lines. The city’s superior
public transport system measures 0.11 km per
square kilometre, compared with the Index aver-
age of 0.07 km. Transport, however, is still dom-
inated by private vehicles, taxis and minibuses,
and congestion remains a challenge. While
there is an extensive network of suburban rail
lines, these are not adequately maintained and
rapidly growing areas in the west of the city are
poorly served. New investment in this network

African Green City Index

Cape Town is the second most populous cityin South Africa behind Johannesburg. Its
3.7 million inhabitants occupy a metropolitan
area of just below 2,500 square kilometres,
which is the second largest area in the African
Green City Index behind Lagos. Aside from Pre-
toria, Cape Town is the least densely populated
city in the Index. Located at the northern end of
the Cape Peninsula and with a mild climate, it is
one of the most popular tourist destinations in
Africa. The city is also a base for IT and manufac-
turing companies, and has undergone a recent
construction boom largely due to the 2010
World Cup. The legislative capital of South
Africa, Cape Town is also home to the country’s
parliament.

Cape Town ranks above average overall in

the Index. The city has some of the most robust
environmental policies among Index cities in
most categories, which bolsters its strong per-
formance. In some categories – such as energy
and CO2, and waste – Cape Town does not per-
form well on quantifiable metrics, yet scores
very well on policy. Its best category perfor-
mance is in land use, where it is the only city that
places well above average. In this category
strong policies go hand in hand with abundant
green spaces and a relatively low percentage of
people living in informal settlements. Underpin-
ning much of Cape Town’s policy efforts is the
city’s Energy and Climate Change Action Plan,
which has set multiple targets and recommend-
ed various initiatives to improve green perfor-
mance.

Energy and CO2: Below average
Cape Town is marked down for having the high-
est CO2 emissions per capita from electricity
consumption in the Index, producing an esti-
mated 4,099 kg, around four times the Index
average of 984 kg. The city relies heavily on elec-
tricity produced from coal, which accounts for
93% of total supply. Only 2% of electricity pro-
duction is generated by renewable sources.
Electricity consumption is also relatively high, at
an estimated 13.9 gigajoules per capita, com-
pared with the average of 6.4 gigajoules. This is
in part due to high consumption in wealthier
households and cheap residential electricity
prices in recent years that have not encouraged
conservation. An estimated 90% of households
have access to electricity, compared with the

well
below

average

below
average

average above
average

well
above

average

Performance

Energy and CO2

Land use

Transport

Waste

Water

Sanitation

Air quality

Environmental governance

Overall result

Cape Town Other cities

The order of the dots within the performance bands has no bearing on the cities’ results.


Quantitative indicators

Category Indicator Average

ENERGY and CO2 Proportion of households with access to electricity (%) 84.2

Electricity consumption per capita (GJ/inhabitant) 6.4

CO2 emissions from electricity consumption per person (kg/person) 983.9

LAND USE Population density (persons/km2) 4,578.1

Population living in informal settlements (%) 38.0

Green spaces per person (m2/person) 73.6

TRANSPORT Length of mass transport network (km/km2) 2.7

Superior public transport network (km/km2) 0.07

WASTE Waste generated per person (kg/person/year) 407.8

WATER Population with access to potable water (%) 91.2

Water consumption per person (litres per person per day) 187.2

Water system leakages (%) 30.5

SANITATION Population with access to sanitation (%) 84.1

water quality, and industrial water pollution
standards are enforced. The 2011 Water Ser-
vices Development Plan sets a target to provide
water to all residents by financial year
2015/2016. However, with an estimated 91% of
residents having access to potable water (which
is on par with the Index average), Cape Town
will need to make considerable progress in this
area in the coming years. While the city con-
sumes 225 litres of water per capita each day,
compared with the Index average of 187 litres, it
aims to reduce water consumption to 180 litres
per capita per day by 2014. To this effect, the
city is targeting water leakages. Although it
already has the lowest leakage rate in the Index,
losing 10% of volume, compared with the Index
average of 30%, Cape Town is nonetheless try-

access figures are lower, especially in informal
settlements. When it comes to wastewater treat-
ment, rapidly developing commercial and resi-
dential areas have placed a strain on many dated
treatment facilities. The city has acknowledged
the issue and steps are being taken to upgrade
facilities (see “green initiatives” below). Already,
Cape Town is one of six cities in the Index that
has a policy aimed at setting standards for treat-
ment and monitoring of wastewater.

Green initiatives: The city has a rolling ten-
year programme to upgrade its wastewater
treatment facilities by 2014. Its goal is to bring
all wastewater treatment facilities close to
national wastewater management standards.
Some progress has already been made and in

50 51

ing to improve the efficiency of its water system
(see “green initiatives” below).

Green initiatives: The city has an ongoing pro-
gramme to help residents of poorer households
reduce high water bills by fixing water leaks
themselves. The city provides information book-
lets with practical information on how to fix leaks,
as well as promotional flyers printed in English,
Afrikaans and Xhosa, three of the country’s 11
official languages. In addition, more than 45,000
water meters have been installed in houses since
the end of 2010 to alert owners when water con-
sumption has reached unaffordable levels.

Sanitation: Average
An estimated 94% of Cape Town’s population
has access to sanitation, according to govern-
ment figures, which is above the Index average
of 84%. However, some studies have suggested

2010, eight of Cape Town’s 23 wastewater facili-
ties were given the Department of Water and
Forestry’s “Green Drop” award for high standards
in wastewater management.

Air quality: Above average
Cape Town has the most robust clean air policies
in the Index, with ongoing air monitoring at 13
sites around the city and public information
campaigns. Air quality checks are made at vari-
ous locations throughout the city and most of
the air pollutants highlighted in the Index,
including sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, sus-
pended particulate matter and carbon monox-
ide, are measured. Despite this, air pollution lev-
els in Cape Town are high, especially in informal
areas. Air pollution is caused by a number of fac-
tors, including vehicle emissions, smoke from
wood or coal-burning fires, industrial processes
and wind-blown dust. Another contributing fac-

cle emissions. A diesel vehicle testing pro-
gramme is under way whereby traffic officials
have the power to conduct spot checks. The
council has also produced a booklet explaining
what residents can do to reduce air pollution.

Environmental governance:
Above average
The city has conducted an environmental base-
line review for areas such as water and sanita-
tion, waste, energy, and climate change within
the last five years. Regular reports are also pub-
lished on green performance and progress. Envi-
ronmental policy is overseen by the city govern-
ment. Its Environmental Resource Management
(ERM) department is directly responsible and
works in close collaboration with other core
departments such as Electricity, Water and Sani-
tation, Transport, Solid Waste Management, and
City Health. There are committees to address
energy issues and climate change, and they
often collaborate across departments under
named remits such as “energy security” and “car-
bon mitigation”.

Green initiatives: Cape Town runs environ-
mental awareness trainings, including sessions
for 23,000 city staff members on how to imple-
ment sustainability advice contained in the
Smart Living Handbook. Officials have proposed
building a Smart Living Centre that would
include exhibits and educational activities for
the public relating to sustainability. The proposal
is still at the planning permission stage, but
organisers have proposed several facilities with-
in the centre, including an organic farmers’ mar-
ket and a recycling centre.

All data applies to Cape Town unless stated otherwise below. * Where data from different years were used only the year of the main indicator is listed. e = EIU Estimate. 1) Number of bus routes (182) multiplied by average length of
route (26.1 km). 2) There are no subway or tram lines. 3) Unaccounted for water = 24.5%

Cape Town Year* Source

89.7 e 2009 General Household Survey 2009

13.9 e 2009 City of Cape Town, Electricity Department

4,098.6 e 2006 State of Environment Report 2008

1,509.5 2009 EIU calculation

17.0 e 2009 City of Cape Town, Environmental Resource
Management Department

289.5 e 2010 City of Cape Town GIS data

1.9 1e 2010 Golden Arrow Bus Company

0.11 2 2010 Cape MetroRail & MyCiti BRT

572.9 2010 City of Cape Town Solid Waste Minimisation and
Disposal Statistics Database

91.4 e 2009 General Household Survey 2009

225.2 2009 City of Cape Town, Environmental Resource
Management Department

10.0 3 2009 City of Cape Town, Environmental Resource
Management Department

94.1 e 2009 General Household Survey 2009

has been announced, although it will be driven
by the national government. The city’s perfor-
mance in this category is bolstered by policies
aimed at encouraging commuters to take green-
er forms of transport and by the existence of
dedicated mass transport lanes.

Green initiatives: In 2009, ahead of the World
Cup, the city launched the first phase of its new
BRT network, known as MyCiti. The first phase
included an inner city loop, a commuter service
route serving the West Coast, and links to the air-
port. By 2012 a network of nine permanent BRT
bus routes is expected to be launched in the cen-
tral city. By 2013 it is hoped that an express ser-
vice between the townships of Mitchells Plain
and Khayelitsha on the Cape Flats will link to the
central business district.

Waste: Above average
Waste generation in Cape Town on a per capita
basis is the second highest in the Index, at
573 kg, compared with the Index average of
408 kg. Despite this, the city’s good perfor-
mance in this category is due to strong policies
relative to the other 14 cities in the Index. Cape
Town monitors and enforces standards for
industries to properly dispose of hazardous
waste, for example. In addition, a number of
schemes are in place to reduce waste generation
(see “green initiatives”). Recycling facilities are
widely available, with on-site and central collec-
tion points, including several community drop-
off facilities for large items, construction rubble
and recyclables. Nevertheless, population
growth is putting pressure on waste manage-
ment and the city is rapidly running out of land-
fill space at its three main sites.

Green initiatives: The city has a number of
ongoing initiatives and plans to reduce waste
generation. It is running a pilot scheme in some
suburbs to have residents separate waste from
recyclables before collection. There is also an
Integrated Waste Exchange website, which
allows businesses and the public to exchange
potentially useful waste materials. Furthermore,
under Cape Town’s Extended Producer Responsi-
bility policy, city procurement guidelines favour
companies that operate take-back programmes
for items they sell, such as used printer car-
tridges and glass bottles. In addition, the city has
published a detailed Smart Living Handbook
encouraging residents to reduce, reuse and
recycle waste.

Water: Above average
Cape Town performs very well for its policies
related to water quality and sustainability. A
code is in place to monitor and sustain surface

tor is a meteorological condition known as low-
level temperature inversion, whereby cooler air
just above the ground becomes trapped under a
layer of warm air and cannot rise until the wind
blows. During winter, when the region is less
windy, brown-coloured smog hovers over the
city. Cape Town has announced a goal of becom-
ing the African city with the cleanest air and is
aware that implementation of current policies
will help it achieve this vision.

Green initiatives: The city’s 2005 Air Quality
Management Plan established 11 objectives to
control air pollution. The plan includes increased
monitoring, improving air quality, specifically in
informal areas, stepping up enforcement of
existing air quality legislation and limiting vehi-


52 53

Casablanca_Morocco

Background indicators
Total population (million) 1 3.4

Administrative area (km2) 1 1,000

Population density (persons/km2) 3,300

been complaints about high prices. Electricity
consumption remains relatively low, measuring
5.0 gigajoules per capita versus an Index average
of 6.4 gigajoules. CO2 emissions from electricity
consumption are also lower than the average, at
an estimated 405 kg per capita versus the Index
average of 984 kg. Leaving aside the four South
African cities in the Index, which push up the aver-
age considerably, Casablanca has one of the high-
er volumes of CO2 emissions per capita from elec-
tricity consumption in the Index. That’s because
more than half of the city’s electricity production
is generated from coal, while only 8% comes from
renewable sources.

Green initiatives: Lydec, operating in Casablan -
ca since 1997, has upgraded the city’s power
network and expanded access to areas that pre-
viously lacked electricity. According to the com-
pany, improved monitoring of the power net-
work has reduced the number of outages as well
as the average time to restore power after a cut
from 33 minutes to ten minutes.

Land use: Above average
Historically Casablanca has been well planned
and its growth over the past 50 years has largely
followed a deliberate pattern. But the urban
sprawl that makes up greater Casablanca, which
used to consist of 27 different municipalities, is
less organised and there is a great disparity in
standards of living in different parts of the city.
Casablanca has the smallest proportion of its
population living in informal settlements in the
Index, at an estimated 15%, considerably below
the Index average of 38%. Land use policies are
also strong, particularly regarding green space
protection, with city authorities focused on inte-
grating more green space into urban areas. The
city has an estimated 55 square metres of green

space per person across the metropolitan area,
compared with the Index average of 74 square
metres. Although in general the city lacks suffi-
cient green space, the main exception is the
Arab League Park in central Casablanca. Planted
in 1918, the park features palm trees and café
terraces for refreshments. There has been dis-
cussion of another new large park but this is yet
to be realised.

Green initiatives: The government has a
development strategy that aims by 2030 to
rehabilitate the city centre, bring more balance
in living standards between the eastern and
western regions of greater Casablanca, and
improve conditions in informal settlements,
including building new parks. In the past two
years, officials have been running pilot pro-
grammes around the metropolitan area to test
the viability of “urban agriculture”, which incor-
porates green space into urban centres and pro-
vides another food source for the city. The pro-
ject receives funding from the German govern-
ment’s ministry of education and research. A
new football stadium is also under construction.
The development of the 80,000-seat stadium, a
high-profile project for the city, includes plans
for the creation of green space, a new element
of urban planning in Casablanca.

Transport: Average
The city’s public transport network measures
1.4 km per square kilometre, less than the Index
average of 2.7 km. Transport connections are
concentrated on the city centre with few links to
peripheral areas, meaning that commutes on
public transport from the suburbs are often
lengthy and complicated. On a policy level, the
city has made little effort on initiatives to tackle
traffic congestion and there are no exclusive bus

African Green City Index

Casablanca is Morocco’s chief port and largestcity, with 3.4 million people across the met-
ropolitan area. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean,
the city is a conglomeration of several urban
centres and has a large industrial presence. It is
the fourth largest port in Africa, handling more
than 500,000 containers a year. In all, the city is
responsible for 60% of Morocco’s trade and is
home to 40% of the country’s workforce.
Casablanca relies heavily on a private conces-
sionaire to deliver a range of essential services,
such as electricity, water and sanitation. Privati-
sation has led to a range of investments in public
infrastructure in recent years. On the whole this
arrangement has worked well, which is reflected
in the city’s performance in the African Green
City Index. Indeed, the concessionaire, rather

1) Greater Casablanca

well
below

average

below
average

average above
average

well
above

average

Performance

Energy and CO2

Land use

Transport

Waste

Water

Sanitation

Air quality

Environmental governance

Overall result

Casablanca Other cities

The order of the dots within the performance bands has no bearing on the cities’ results.

than the city itself, is responsible for many of the
green initiatives detailed in this city portrait.
One downside to this policy is that without
direct control, city authorities do not always
have a quick remedy when things go wrong.

Casablanca ranks above average overall in
the Index, and places above average for five indi-
vidual categories: energy and CO2, land use,
water, sanitation and air quality. It does not fall
below average in any category. Particular
strengths when compared with the other 14
cities in the Index include relatively high levels of
access to electricity, potable water and sanita-
tion, and a relatively low number of residents liv-
ing in informal settlements. Policies in these
areas are also comparatively strong. Challenges
include making waste collection and disposal

more consistent across the city, and the need for
improvement in overall environmental monitor-
ing. There is some hope that the uprisings
around the Middle East and North Africa, which
also centre on providing better services and liv-
ing conditions for the population, may help to
accelerate improvements.

Energy and CO2: Above average
An estimated 99% of households in Casablanca
have access to electricity, one of the highest per-
centages in the Index and above the Index aver-
age of 84%. Electricity, water and sanitation ser-
vices are provided by Lydec, a private-sector
consortium. Although Lydec has improved the
city’s power network since it began operations
there in 1997 (see “green initiatives” ), there have


Quantitative indicators

Category Indicator Average

ENERGY and CO2 Proportion of households with access to electricity (%) 84.2

Electricity consumption per capita (GJ/inhabitant) 6.4

CO2 emissions from electricity consumption per person (kg/person) 983.9


LAND USE Population density (persons/km2) 4,578.1

Population living in informal settlements (%) 38.0

Green spaces per person (m2/person) 73.6

TRANSPORT Length of mass transport network (km/km2) 2.7

Superior public transport network (km/km2) 0.07

WASTE Waste generated per person (kg/person/year) 407.8

WATER Population with access to potable water (%) 91.2

Water consumption per person (litres per person per day) 187.2

Water system leakages (%) 30.5

SANITATION Population with access to sanitation (%) 84.1

Water: Above average
While it is estimated that all Casablanca resi-
dents have access to potable water, the city’s
consumption level, at 89 litres per person per
day, is about half the Index average of 187 litres.
The efficiency of the city’s water system, which
is run by Lydec, is about average by the stan-
dards of the Index. The system loses an estimat-
ed 28% of volume to leaks, compared with the
Index average of 30%, but work is under way to
improve that performance (see “green initia-
tives”). Policy areas are also relatively strong.
Casablanca is one of only a few cities in the
Index with a code aimed at reducing strain on its
water resources and consuming water more
efficiently. Water quality standards have also
been set, which is relatively rare among the
other 14 cities in the Index.

remain. Some of the country’s biggest industrial
facilities, located at Mohammedia in greater
Casablanca, often pump waste and wastewater
directly into the sea, a problem that Lydec is try-
ing to address (see “green initiatives” below). An
inability to drain rainwater effectively during
periods of heavy rainfall is also an ongoing prob-
lem for the city.

Green initiatives: Lydec has implemented a
programme to improve the wastewater net-
work, eliminate the discharge of waste into the
sea at Mohammedia and transfer wastewater
from Bouskoura Ouled Saleh for treatment. The
programme involves the rehabilitation and
extension of the sewerage system and waste-
water collection facilities, the rehabilitation of
wastewater treatment stations, and the con-

reduce the sulphur content in the country’s
petro leum from about 10,000 parts per million
(ppm) to just 50 ppm. In addition, until two
years ago there was no inspection system for
vehicles in Casablanca, and therefore nothing
to prevent owners from running highly pollut-
ing automobiles. In the past two years, howev-
er, there has been a major effort to address the
problem. A Swiss private firm has been con-
tracted to ensure that proper inspections are
carried out and it has introduced a comput-
erised record system that bans highly-polluting
vehicles from the roads.

Environmental governance: Average
Casablanca performs relatively well for environ-
mental management and it has a department
dedicated to environmental issues. However,

54 55

The 350-km train line, scheduled to be opera-
tional in 2015, will cut travelling time from Casa -
blanca to Tangiers from five to just over two hours.

Waste: Average
Casablanca generates an estimated 474 kg of
waste per capita versus the Index average of
408 kg. Recycling policies are relatively underde-
veloped compared with the other 14 cities in the
Index. In general, waste collection has improved
in the last five years, but the quality of service
varies widely across the city, with responsibility
split between three private contractors who dis-
pose of waste at one site. Casablanca fares bet-
ter in the Index for special waste collection and
disposal. Facilities are available for medical,
chemical and construction waste. Casablanca is
marked down in the Index, however, for a lack of
onsite collection points for recyclable material
and a limited range of items accepted.

Green initiatives: Lydec has upgraded the
city’s water network and improved the
supply of drinking water to a number of sectors.
The Merchich pipe, which supplies water to
Mo hammed V, the city’s main airport, has
also been renovated. In addition, work is
under way to minimise system leakages by
installing flow meters to better monitor water
volumes.

Sanitation: Above average
An estimated 99% of the city’s population has
access to sanitation, exceeding the Index aver-
age of 84%. Sanitation policies are generally
robust as well. Casablanca has a sanitation code
in place and it has also set minimum standards
for wastewater treatment, backed up by regular
monitoring. Lydec has been responsible for
many of the improvements in sewage manage-
ment in recent years. Even so, challenges

struction of a flood relief channel for the Oued El
Maleh River.

Air quality: Above average
Casablanca has comparatively strong clean air
policies. There is a code to improve ambient air
quality, and monitoring in different city loca-
tions regularly takes place. The city also mea-
sures a wide range of air pollutants. However,
Casablanca is in need of strong policies as its air
quality suffers from traffic congestion and pollu-
tion from large industrial facilities nearby in grea ter
Casablanca, including the Samir oil refinery.

Green initiatives: After years of delays and
negotiations, in 2009 the national government
completed the conversion of the Samir refinery
at Mohammedia to low-sulphur diesel, bringing
the refinery’s petroleum products into line with
international standards. The conversion helped

relatively little information has recently been
published on environmental performance and
progress, and Casablanca could also do more to
increase public participation in environmental
affairs. As mentioned above, a number of areas
of environmental policy – electricity, water and
waste management – are managed by public
private partnerships (PPPs) in which the govern-
ment grants a concession to a private company
to run the service in a certain region of the city
for a set period of time. By and large, the use of
PPPs has proved an effective way of improving
public services, but it means that policy is not
necessarily consistent across the city, and
there has been some popular opposition to the
strategy, particularly in the waste management
sector.

Green initiatives: As part of its management
of Casablanca’s water, wastewater and power
utilities, Lydec has introduced state-of-the-art
computer technology to help improve oversight
of the city’s key services. The systems are moni-
tored electronically, and data is transmitted to a
control room known as the Multifluid Central
Coordination Bureau. In an effort to improve
reliability, Lydec has installed more than 300
remote control points on the network to give
early warning of the necessity of maintenance
and repair work on the system, helping prevent
leaks and outages. The systems are monitored
24 hours a day. Lydec has also sought to improve
community engagement. It has organised local
communication days, set up a new division
focussed on skills development, and held cam-
paigns and exhibitions for the public in general
and schoolchildren in particular.

All data applies to Casablanca unless stated otherwise below. * Where data from different years were used only the year of the main indicator is listed. e = EIU Estimate. 1) Greater Casablanca. 2) National electricity generation mix used
to estimate city level CO2 data. 3) Metropolitan area. 4) Number of bus routes (56) multiplied by average length of bus route for other cities in the Index (26 km). 5) There are no subway, tram or BRT lines

Casablanca Year* Source

99.2 e 2004 UN Habitat

5.0 1 2009 Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Démographiques

405.3 1, 2e 2006 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse
Gas Inventories

3,287.5 2009 EIU calculation

14.6 1e 2008 Development Innovations Group Report – Best practices
in slum improvement, the case of Casablanca

55.5 3e n/a Department of Agriculture & Department of
Water and Forests

1.4 1, 4 2005 ONCF (National Office for Railways in Morocco)

0.03 1, 5e 2010 ONCF (National Office for Railways in Morocco)

474.4 e 2009 Estimate by GESI (private contractor running the
city's landfill)

100.0 e 2004 UN Habitat

89.0 1 2004 Office National de l' Eau Potable

28.0 e 2005 World Bank

98.9 e 2004 UN Habitat

lanes that might encourage greater take-up of
public transport. However, the city’s first tram-
way is under construction (see “green initiatives”
below).

Green initiatives: Casablanca’s first 30-km tram -
way will have just under 50 stops and connect
Sidi Moumen in the east, to Hay Hassani and the
Quartier des Facultés in the west via the city’s
historic centre. The government says the line
will carry 250,000 passengers a day; operations
are slated to begin in December 2012. Another
150-km line, along with a suburban rail link, is
eventually planned to connect Mohammedia in
the north of greater Casablanca with Nouaceur
in the south. Additionally in 2011 the Moroccan
government began works on a high-speed TGV
train linking Casablanca to Rabat and Tangiers.


56 57

Dar es Salaam_Tanzania

Background indicators
Total population (million) 3.0

Administrative area (km2) 1,400

Population density (persons/km2) 2,200

been compromised by inefficient agricultural
activities upstream in the Kilombero and Usangu
valleys. Instead it is favouring natural gas, which
currently accounts for 36% of electricity produc-
tion. For example, the city is looking to add sub-
stantial supplies by building a natural gas
pipeline from a newly discovered source in
south Tanzania. The city is marked down for its
lack of clean energy policies. For example, it
does not have a strategy to reduce the environ-
mental impact of its energy consumption.

Land use: Below average
An estimated 68% of Dar es Salaam’s population
lives in informal settlements, compared with the
Index average of 38%. Despite a fairly low popu-
lation density of roughly 2,200 people per
square kilometre, the city’s amount of green
spaces is under the Index average, at 64 square

ticular, she wants to strengthen the city’s poli-
cies to improve the quality of the building stock
and reduce illegal building. Under her watch,
Ms Tibaijuka says, developers will have to take
account of sanitation, waste and traffic pro-
duced by their proposed construction. The min-
istry will also seek to limit and manage illegal
takeovers of vacant land in the city. In another
initiative relating to buildings, the international
Aga Khan Foundation, a non-governmental
organisation, is trying to introduce traditional
Swahili building methods. This includes using
shade and breezes to cool buildings, and using
local mud and thatch instead of imported steel
and glass. Although these will be difficult to
realise on a large scale, some of the principles of
Swahili architecture can help show the way for
superior and greener new developments. Other
initiatives include the integration of urban farm-

African Green City Index

Dar es Salaam, more commonly known asDar, is the largest city in Tanzania. It has a
population of 3 million, a number expected to
double by 2020. Located on a natural harbour
on the Indian Ocean, Dar is the country’s trading
hub. Like many other Tanzanian cities, it has
experienced a construction and population
boom in recent years, putting a strain on the
city’s resources and infrastructures. Dar es Salaam
is among the top-ten fastest growing cities in
the world, and this too will bring huge chal-
lenges, especially as more than two-thirds of its
population already lives in informal settlements.

Dar es Salaam ranks well below average over-
all in the African Green City Index. Its best cate-
gory results are in energy and CO2 as well as
water, where it ranks average. The city has some
enormous environmental challenges to over-

come, particularly in waste and sanitation,
where it ranks well below average. DAWASCO,
Dar’s water and sewerage provider, is struggling
to cope with demand. In addition, there are few
policies in place to tackle green issues, and the
city’s transport network is one of the least devel-
oped in the Index. Investment on the scale need-
ed to overhaul Dar es Salaam seems unlikely in
the short term. Instead, further green initiatives
will most likely have to come from innovative
approaches, community participation and more
involvement from international agencies, such
as the UN, which have been active in the city in
recent years.

Energy and CO2: Average
One of Dar es Salaam’s stronger categories is
energy and CO2, where it is marked up for its rel-

atively low electricity consumption and emis-
sion levels. The city consumes 2.5 gigajoules of
electricity per capita, versus the Index average of
6.4 gigajoules. CO2 emissions from electricity
consumption are an estimated 61 kg per capita,
a tiny fraction of the Index average of 984 kg.
The city’s emissions performance is helped by
sourcing 60% of its electricity from hydropower.
Also, a lack of electricity supply helps explain the
low consumption and low CO2 emissions. Only
an estimated 60% of households in Dar es Salaam
have access to electricity, compared with the
Index average of 84%. This leads to a heavy de -
pendency on gas and diesel generators – leased
at high expense from foreign companies – to
meet the city’s power requirements. Dar seems
set to reduce its reliance on hydropower, because
the water supply to power the hydro plants has

metres per person. The Index average is 74 square
metres. Relatively weak land use policies also
contribute to Dar’s performance. It does not
have policies to protect green space or environ-
mentally sensitive areas, for example, nor does
it have policies in place to manage urban sprawl.
The city gains marks, however, for providing
informal settlements with municipal services,
which it has carried out in partnership with UN
Habitat. The city’s master plan dates back to
the 1970s, although this is currently being re -
viewed.

Green initiatives: Tanzania’s new minister of
Lands, Housing and Human Settlements, Anna
Tibaijuka, has returned from heading UN Habitat
to declare that one of her first tasks will be to
impose “urban order” on Dar es Salaam. In par-

ing into modern Swahili construction but so far
these remain experimental.

Transport: Below average
Dar es Salaam’s public transport network is
underdeveloped and the city lacks any form of
superior transport such as light rail, trams or
metro. Although 7,000 to 10,000 privately run
buses and minivans are in operation, dedicated
bus routes have yet to be created. There are
plans to roll out a bus rapid transit network (see
“green initiatives”), but it is not expected to be
up and running until 2013. Meanwhile, Dar es
Salaam’s roads continue to get more and more
congested – average commuting time has dou-
bled during the last decade. Policies, too, are rel-
atively underdeveloped. Dar es Salaam is one of
only a few Index cities that have not taken any

well
below

average

below
average

average above
average

well
above

average

Performance

Energy and CO2

Land use

Transport

Waste

Water

Sanitation

Air quality

Environmental governance

Overall result

Dar es Salaam Other cities

The order of the dots within the performance bands has no bearing on the cities’ results.


Quantitative indicators

Category Indicator Average

ENERGY and CO2 Proportion of households with access to electricity (%) 84.2

Electricity consumption per capita (GJ/inhabitant) 6.4

CO2 emissions from electricity consumption per person (kg/person) 983.9


LAND USE Population density (persons/km2) 4,578.1

Population living in informal settlements (%) 38.0

Green spaces per person (m2/person) 73.6

TRANSPORT Length of mass transport network (km/km2) 2.7

Superior public transport network (km/km2) 0.07

WASTE Waste generated per person (kg/person/year) 407.8

WATER Population with access to potable water (%) 91.2

Water consumption per person (litres per person per day) 187.2

Water system leakages (%) 30.5

SANITATION Population with access to sanitation (%) 84.1

steps to reduce emissions from mass urban
transport. Nor has the city undertaken any initia-
tives to reduce traffic congestion, although it
does have sequenced traffic lights. However,
Dar is marked up for being one of three cities in
the Index that promote greener forms of trans-
port. It has, for example, a partnership with a
local non-governmental organisation to take
into account the needs of cyclists when con-
structing new roads.

Green initiatives: In 2005 the World Bank
funded the development of plans for a bus rapid
transit system in order to modernise the public
transportation network and limit the further
growth of car traffic. The plan envisions that
DART (Dar Rapid Transit) will run along dedicat-
ed lanes, with links to private minibuses.
Although the project has been delayed, there
are signs that the start of construction is near-

ties to recycle paper, plastics and glass are said to
be in the planning stage, but are not yet present.
However, some private operators recycle goods
such as plastic on a small scale around the city.

Water: Average
On quantifiable water metrics Dar es Salaam is in
line with Index averages: the city consumes an
estimated 187 litres of water per day per capita,
which is equal to the Index average. An estimat-
ed 90% of the city’s inhabitants have access to
potable water, compared with the average of
91%. Water system leakages, at an estimated
30% of total volume, also mirror the Index aver-
age. Yet challenges remain. Poorer districts in
the city receive water only on a weekly basis,
and Dar’s performance is relatively weak in poli-
cy areas. The city does not yet have a strategy
aimed at encouraging efficient water consump-
tion, nor does it enforce water pollution stan-

ing and rationing water sources in the city. A key
element is a campaign of water education for
Dar es Salaam residents that seeks to promote a
better understanding of the value of water and
its limited supply, and implement improved
water usage in communities. In another initia-
tive, Tanzania’s minister for water recently
announced a US$21 million effort to increase
the supply of water to the city by 90% before
2015. The ministry says this will be achieved by
rapidly improving sewage treatment, doubling
the size of the pumping plants on rivers that sup-
ply Dar with water, and drilling large boreholes
in and around the city.

Sanitation: Well below average
An estimated 56% of the city’s population has
access to sanitation, with an estimated 7% of
Dar’s households linked directly to sewers. In
addition, it is estimated that only 10% of the

raises carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide lev-
els. Another air pollution problem is the use of
wood and charcoal for cooking, as well as the
burning of solid waste. There has been air quali-
ty monitoring in the past, with the assistance of
the US Environmental Protection Agency and
the UN, but these efforts were temporary and
only took place in limited locations around the
city. Dar does not currently monitor air quality
on its own without outside assistance.

Green initiatives: Dar es Salaam hopes to
receive part of a US$777 million loan from the
World Bank to the national government of Tan-
zania to improve the environment, including
provisions to deal with air quality. Specifics are
unclear at this point, although one suggested
scheme could help develop clean energy stoves
and community cooking initiatives in poorer
communities.

Environmental governance:
Below average
Unlike the majority of Index cities, Dar has no
authority dedicated to green issues. Responsibil-
ity for environmental programmes is generally
divided between various departments and in
many cases when policies are in place they are
ignored or not enforced. Neither have there
been any recent published reports on environ-
mental performance and progress. In a city
where more than two thirds of the population
lives in informal settlements, the lack of green
reporting is unlikely to be a top priority in most
people’s minds. Nevertheless, the absence of
baseline environmental reviews and the lack of
any concerted green management efforts are
cause for concern. Without a plan or strategy to
improve the city’s environmental affairs, the
majority of city inhabitants are unlikely to see a
rise in their environmental living standards.

58 59

ing. City authorities say the first seven stations
will be open by 2013. This initial phase is expect-
ed to cost US$10 million, with most of the fund-
ing coming from the World Bank.

Waste: Well below average
Dar es Salaam generates an estimated 462 kg of
waste per capita, slightly more than the Index
average of 408 kg. Policies, however, are rela-
tively weak and the city lacks an integrated strat-
egy aimed at reducing or recycling waste. It also
lacks regulations for waste picking, monitoring
of illegal waste dumping and standards for the
industry to adequately dispose of hazardous
waste. As a result the city is struggling to cope
with municipal waste. In the absence of a regu-
lar and reliable waste collection service, resi-
dents typically burn their rubbish. Toxic fumes
from burning plastic are not uncommon. Facili-

dards on local industry. In a recent assessment,
UN Habitat outlined water and sanitation needs
for Dar es Salaam. Those included developing an
overall conservation and water-demand man-
agement strategy that addresses in particular
the needs of the urban poor; educating policy
makers and senior administrators about
demand management in order to reduce the
number of illegal connections and vandalism;
transfering resource management from the
city’s water and sewer agency to communities;
and introducing water conservation education
for children. The UN has made investments in
the city to address some of these action points
(see “green initiatives” below).

Green initiatives: UN Habitat has run several
initiatives in the city in the last ten years, includ-
ing a programme aimed at identifying, protect-

sewage is treated before being discharged. The
city has relatively weak sanitation policies,
which need to be strengthened to improve sani-
tation services. Like the majority of Index cities,
Dar could bolster regulations to monitor sanita-
tion facilities and treat wastewater. But unlike
the majority of Index cities, Dar does not pro-
mote public awareness about healthy sanitation
practices.

Air quality: Below average
Dar es Salaam has no code to improve air quality
and there is no comprehensive and continuous
monitoring of air pollutants. The city lacks cam-
paigns to raise public awareness about the dan-
gers of air pollution, although that might
change if it is awarded outside financial assis-
tance (see “green initiatives”). Meanwhile, Dar’s
roads are becoming more congested, which

All data applies to Dar es Salaam unless stated otherwise below. * Where data from different years were used only the year of the main indicator is listed. e = EIU Estimate. 1) National electricity generation mix used to estimate city
level CO2 data. 2) There are no dedicated bus routes in Dar es Salaam. 3) There are no subway, tram, light-rail or BRT lines. 4) Data refer to Tanzania urban population. As the largest urban centre, this is a good estimate for
Dar es Salaam. 5) Unaccounted for water = 60%

Dar es Salaam Year* Source

59.8 e 2004 UN Habitat

2.5 2009 National Bureau of Statistics

60.8 1e 2009 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse
Gas Inventories

2,182.4 2009 EIU calculation

68.0 e 2009 UN Habitat

64.1 e 2004 Royal Institute of Technology, Division of Urban Studies,
Stockholm

0.0 2 2011

0.00 3 2011

462.4 e 2009 Dar es Salaam City Council

90.0 e 2009 Energy and Water Utility Regulatory Authority

187.0 4e 2009 UN Habitat

30.0 5e 2007 UN Habitat

55.6 e 2004 UN Habitat


60 61

Durban_South Africa

Background indicators
Total population (million) e 3.5

Administrative area (km2) 1e 2,300

Population density (persons/km2) e 1,500

Green initiatives: One effort aimed at address -
ing climate change locally is driven by the 2009-
initiated Durban Climate Change Partnership,
which includes members of the private sector,
academia, government, civil society and non-
governmental organisations. Durban was a
host city for the 2010 World Cup and in the run
up to that event launched the Greening Durban
2010 campaign. It aimed to neutralise the
370,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions forecasted to
be produced during the construction and host-
ing period. Initiatives included making the
Moses Madiba Stadium as energy efficient as
possible, a reforestation project at the Buffels-
draai landfill site, and promoting other water
and electricity saving schemes, although there
is no information on whether the initiatives
reached their targets. Similar climate change
initiatives are under way ahead of Durban host-
ing the United Nations Climate Change Confer-
ence COP 17. There are several targets to reduce
overall CO2 emissions by 2020, focussing sepa-
rately on industry, transport and homes. In
addition, the Imagine Durban scheme is part of
a global campaign, led by Sustainable Cities, a
Canadian non-governmental organisation, to
improve urban environments and reduce car-
bon emissions. It aims to make Durban a carbon
neutral city by 2050. As part of the campaign
the city has created tool-kits for businesses and
individuals to advise them how to reduce their
carbon footprint.

Land use: Above average
Durban contains a densely populated urban
core surrounded by more spread out suburbs,
fairly densely populated townships and infor-
mal settlements in the outskirts. As a result of
this sprawl and the city’s large administrative
area, it is one of the least dense cities in the

Index, with an estimated 1,500 people per
square kilometre, versus an overall average of
4,600. An estimated 22% of the population
lives in informal settlements, well below the
Index average of 38%. Durban is rich with green
space, at 187 square metres per person. This is
more than double the Index average of 74
square metres, and the third highest amount in
the Index, behind Cape Town and Johannes-
burg. Nevertheless, many of these areas are
under threat from urban sprawl and agricultural
development. The city’s recently introduced
Spatial Development Framework plan aims to
combat this potential sprawl, while an Integrat-
ed Development Plan has identified the impor-
tance of meeting infrastructure and housing
needs in informal settlements.

Green initiatives: There are several initiatives
to improve the city’s ecosystem under the
umbrella of the Durban Metropolitan Open
Space System (D’MOSS) project. D’MOSS is a
system of open spaces, some 74,000 hectares
of land and water deemed to be of high bio-
diversity value. A key part of D’MOSS has been
to identify and categorise endangered and
sensitive areas to protect them from develop-
ment, and raise awareness about the city’s
biodiversity. There is also a campaign to stop
the invasion of alien plant species, and the soil
and water erosion that they cause. Further-
more, as part of the preparations for hosting
the 2010 World Cup, 62,500 trees were plant-
ed. With this Greening Durban project, the city
largely targeted the city’s biggest landfill site,
Buffelsdraai. For low-income residents living
nearby the trees have hidden the view of the
rubbish and encouraged new wildlife to flour-
ish, and are absorbing some of the smells from
the landfill.

African Green City Index

Durban, located on the Indian Ocean, is thethird most populous South African city, with
an estimated 3.5 million residents. It is home to
East Africa’s largest port and has a substantial
amount of industry and manufacturing. The
heart of Durban is densely populated, but the
city, which spreads out across 2,300 square kilo-
metres, is one of the least dense in the Index.
Like other South African cities, Durban used the
2010 World Cup as a catalyst for a range of envi-
ronmental initiatives, which it can showcase
when it hosts the COP 17 United Nations Climate
Change Conference, taking place in November
and December 2011.

Durban ranks above average overall in the
Index. With 1,400 bus routes, the city has the
longest public transport network in the Index;

it also boasts abundant green spaces and ge-
nerally performs well in delivering utilities, pub-
lic services and policies. As a result, Durban
ranks above average in the Index in most cate-
gories: land use, transport, waste, water, sanita-
tion, air quality and environmental governance.
The city ranks below average for energy and
CO2, owing in part to high CO2 emissions result-
ing from a major dependence on coal to produce
electricity.

Energy and CO2: Below average
An estimated 88% of Durban households have
access to electricity, above the Index average of
84%. Supply shortages, once common, particu-
larly in colder months when heating and electri-
cal appliance use increases, have been much

less frequent in recent years. As a result of wide-
spread access, electricity consumption is also
higher than average, at 11.3 gigajoules per capi-
ta, versus the Index average of 6.4 gigajoules.
Electricity in Durban is generated mainly through
coal, with renewables, mostly hydro, comprising
just under 2% of the electricity production mix.
The city has also begun generating energy on
a limited basis from local waste by-products.
Durban’s heavy reliance on coal drives up CO2
emissions from electricity – the city emits an
estimated 3,503 kg per person from electricity
consumption, well above the Index average of
984 kg, and second only to Cape Town in the
Index. However, promising policies in this area
will hopefully catalyse reductions in consump-
tion and improvements in efficiency.

e = EIU Estimate, 1) eThekwini area

well
below

average

below
average

average above
average

well
above

average

Performance

Energy and CO2

Land use

Transport

Waste

Water

Sanitation

Air quality

Environmental governance

Overall result

Durban Other cities

The order of the dots within the performance bands has no bearing on the cities’ results.


Quantitative indicators

Category Indicator Average

ENERGY and CO2 Proportion of households with access to electricity (%) 84.2

Electricity consumption per capita (GJ/inhabitant) 6.4

CO2 emissions from electricity consumption per person (kg/person) 983.9

LAND USE Population density (persons/km2) 4,578.1

Population living in informal settlements (%) 38.0

Green spaces per person (m2/person) 73.6

TRANSPORT Length of mass transport network (km/km2) 2.7

Superior public transport network (km/km2) 0.07

WASTE Waste generated per person (kg/person/year) 407.8

WATER Population with access to potable water (%) 91.2

Water consumption per person (litres per person per day) 187.2

Water system leakages (%) 30.5

SANITATION Population with access to sanitation (%) 84.1

Transport: Above average
With an extensive bus system of 1,400 routes
and some 200 operators, Durban has the
longest public transport system in the Index. In
total it measures 9.2 km per square kilometre,
more than three times the Index average of 2.7
km. Superior forms of public transport, such as
metro, BRT or tram lines, make up an estimated
0.16 km per square kilometre, more than twice
the Index average of 0.07 km, and consist most-
ly of suburban trains. Nevertheless, Durban’s
public transit network is often hampered by
unreliability and those who can afford them
commonly use private vehicles. City officials’
ability to overcome these obstacles will be a key
factor in the future success of mass transit devel-
opment efforts.

Green initiatives: The city council used the
hosting of the 2010 World Cup as an opportuni-
ty to invest in public transport, securing US$236
million of national government money for this
purpose. Initiatives included the launching of a

city’s growth. Though there is no separate
municipal collection service for household haz-
ardous waste, a domestic collection programme
ensures the adequate disposal of cardboard,
paper, tin and glass, and covers most of the city’s
formal housing areas. In recent years, the city
has introduced public clean-up campaigns to
address the problem of illegal dumping and has
even conducted raids to stop that. Durban’s
waste score is further bolstered by a robust set of
policies aimed at enforcing environmental stan-
dards on landfill sites.

Green initiatives: In a bid to increase recycling
and create local income, informal waste-pickers
are allowed to rummage through the Bisasar
Road landfill site for items they perceive to be of
value. They can then sell their items at various
buy-back centres run by both private recycling
companies and the city. It is estimated that more
than 66,000 kg of material are retrieved from
the Bisasar Road site each month by some 300 to
400 waste collectors, or around 200 families.

water sustainability in the Index, and leads the
Index, along with Cape Town, on water quality
policy.

Green initiatives: There are seasonal hose-
pipe bans, and some environmentally conscious
residents carry out private collection of rainwa-
ter and grey-water recycling. The city promotes
water conservation in homes by giving out free
water-flow limiters and encourages people to
use water meters. Furthermore, the water and
sanitation department has started supplying
treated wastewater to irrigate farmland and
community gardens.

Sanitation: Above average
An estimated 90% of the population has access
to sanitation, compared with the Index average
of 84%, and the city’s wastewater is treated
before being discharged into nearby rivers and
the ocean. However, like many cities in the
Index, Durban faces challenges providing sani-
tary conditions to low-income informal settle-

have had a positive impact, with blockages
down significantly, and the scheme has been
hailed as a best-practice example. Durban’s
water department was invited to create a toolkit
to be used in urban Kenya and then possibly
elsewhere on the continent.

Air quality: Above average
Durban’s clean air policies are among the
strongest in the Index, and officials have been
monitoring air quality at various sites around the
city since 2004. Systems measure sulphur diox-
ide, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter and car-
bon monoxide. Air pollution is particularly
severe in the south of the city, near the coast,
where the mix of heavy industry and densely
settled residential sectors has prompted con-
cerns about air quality.

Green initiatives: Through its Imagine Durban
project (see “green initiatives” in the environ-
mental governance category) the city has set a
target to ensure that within ten years air is “not

harmful to human health”. In a bid to achieve
this target, a number of key goals have been out-
lined. The first is to reduce commercial pollution
by establishing and implementing by-laws that
create penalties for pollution and promoting
low-emission industries. There are calls for vehi-
cles to meet low-emissions standards, and sug-
gestions that workers share vehicles and compa-
nies promote carpooling or provide more
communal transport.

Environmental governance:
Above average
Durban has some of the strongest policies on
environmental management and monitoring in
the Index. In 1994 Durban was the first South
African city to adopt the UN’s Local Agenda 21,
which committed the city to implement sustain-
ability measures, including creating a small envi-
ronmental management department. Since
then, the department has expanded to 20 full-
time employees. The city government consis-
tently monitors its environmental performance

62 63

new passenger bus called the People Mover,
which created new routes in areas not served by
existing transport providers, running along the
beachfront and connecting Durban to neigh-
bouring communities. The council also created a
new online travel information system integrat-
ing details of buses, taxis and minibuses on
touch screens at various sites around the city,
including the Moses Mabhida Stadium. There
are longer-term plans to have a fully integrated
public transport system, so that bus and taxi
routes match up with train stations.

Waste: Above average
Durban generates 519 kg of waste per capita
annually, more than the Index average of 408 kg.
Landfills are increasingly unable to match
expanding waste volumes resulting from the

The city is studying ways to expand these sites
and put them in more suitable areas, closer to
lower-income residents.

Water: Above average
An estimated 98% of the population has access
to potable water, compared with the Index
average of 91%. The city’s consumption has
increased steadily over the past four years and
today, at 253 litres per person per day, it is
above the Index average of 187 litres. Leakages,
at 36%, are also higher than the Index average
of 30%. The quality of Durban’s drinking water
is generally very good, in part due to the city’s
strict policies on improving and monitoring sur-
face water. Likewise, the city enforces water
pollution standards on local industry. As a
result, the city has the strongest policies on

ments. Those areas often suffer from a poorly
maintained and often vandalised sewerage net-
work susceptible to blockages during periods of
high demand. Nevertheless, Durban’s efforts to
promote public awareness around proper sani-
tation and its implementation of minimum
wastewater treatment standards set it apart
from many of the other cities in the Index.

Green initiatives: In 2000 the city’s water ser-
vice launched a sewage education programme
in a bid to reduce damage to the city’s sewerage
network. Educational resources and toolkits
were designed for use in schools and at informal
education settings, such as clinics. There were
road shows and street theatre performances
aimed at lower income communities where liter-
acy levels are lower. The campaign appears to

and regularly publishes information on pro -
gress.

Green initiatives: The Imagine Durban initia-
tive is a city-council-led project on integrated,
long-term planning. It is being implemented in
conjunction with partners: Sustainable Cities, a
Canadian non-governmental organisation, and
the PLUS Network, a network of 35 cities sharing
experiences in sustainability planning. The con-
cept behind Imagine Durban is to focus on what
citizens would like the city to be in the future and
then set medium- and long-term targets to meet
these goals. In another initiative, in September
2011 Durban hosted its second three-day “Sus-
tainable Living Exhibition”, which aimed to
showcase innovative ideas for more environ-
mentally friendly lifestyles. More than 130
stands exhibited a range of goods, including
devices to save water and energy, solar-power
equipment, ozone-friendly appliances, and tools
for organic gardening and recycling. The event
was seen as a warm up for the COP 17 summit.

All data applies to Durban unless stated otherwise below. * Where data from different years were used only the year of the main indicator is listed. e = EIU Estimate. 1) eThekwini area. 2) There are no subway, tram or BRT lines

Durban Year* Source

88.0 1e 2010 National Department of Cooperative Governance
and Traditional Affairs

11.3 1 2010 Durban Electricity Department

3,503.4 e 2010 World Bank

1,509.8 e 2007 EIU calculation

22.4 e 2007 Community survey 2007

186.6 1 2007 State of Energy, Key Indicators Report 2007/08

9.2 1 2011 eThekwini Transport Authority

0.16 1, 2e 2010 Metrorail

519.0 2007 State of Energy, Key Indicators Report 2007/09

98.0 1e 2007 Community Survey 2007

252.9 1 2007 State of Energy, Key Indicators Report 2007/08

36.4 1 2007 State of Energy, Key Indicators Report 2007/09

90.1 e 1998 UN Habitat


64 65

Johannesburg_South Africa

Background indicators
Total population (million) 3.9

Administrative area (km2) 1,600

Population density (persons/km2) 2,400

emissions are higher than average, at an esti-
mated 1,484 kg per person, compared with the
Index average of 984 kg. On the other hand,
Johannesburg’s per capita electricity consump-
tion, at 5.6 gigajoules, is lower than the Index
average of 6.4 gigajoules per person. And like all
other South African cities, Johannesburg has a
robust strategy aimed at reducing the environ-
mental impact of energy consumption (see
“green initiatives” below), which helps secure its
above average ranking in this category.

Green initiatives: The city of Johannesburg is
keen to promote solar power as a way to reduce
carbon emissions and cut electricity costs. The
authorities, thanks to funding from the Danish
Development Agency, have spent US$1.2 mil-
lion installing solar water heaters in 700 low-
cost homes in Cosmo City, a housing develop-
ment. There are plans to extend the scheme to
other parts of the city where electricity supplies
are poor. In another solar-related initiative, the
Johannesburg Road Agency has been installing
solar power signals at key city intersections since
2009. In addition to saving energy, the signals
are not susceptible to power failures, which
cause congestion and higher fuel consumption
from queuing drivers. Plans are also under way
to convert landfill gas from several sites into
electricity to power city homes. Work has begun
on the first plant of its kind at one of the city’s
landfills, and there are plans to extend the
scheme to four further landfill areas, with a view
to generating enough electricity for 12,500
households over a 20-year period.

Land use: Above average
Johannesburg is a sprawling city comprised of
scattered pockets of residential, industrial and
office developments. As a result, population

density is lower than the Index average, at 2,400
people per square kilometre, versus the Index
average of 4,600. More recent development has
continued to favour sprawl, but the city is intro-
ducing policies to revive the city centre (see
“green initiatives” below). An estimated 19% of
Johannesburg’s residents live in informal settle-
ments, which is well below the Index average of
38%. The city boasts more than 10 million trees
in parks and along avenues, and has the second
highest amount of green space in the Index, at
231 square metres per person, compared with
the average of 74 square metres. Although
Johannesburg aims to protect sensitive areas
such as wetlands, the overwhelming demand
for new housing will put pressure on this goal.

Green initiatives: The city is trying to reduce
urban sprawl by rehabilitating under-populated
city centre neighbourhoods and building new
mixed-density and mixed-income housing de -
vel opments with access to municipal services
and public transport links. To this end, the Johan-
nesburg Development Agency, which receives
city and private funds, was set up in 2001 with
the specific remit to regenerate decayed inner
city areas. It has been credited with transforming
several city districts, upgrading pavements,
lighting, parking and security. The parks depart-
ment, meanwhile, works to maintain and refur-
bish green spaces and promote environmental
projects, such as tree planting, bird watching, lit-
ter collection and river cleaning. A number of
parks have been developed from wasteland
alongside some townships with a view to create
a greener environment for residents.

Transport: Above average
Although the city has an estimated 6.8 km per
square kilometre of bus routes, far more than

African Green City Index

areas of transport, land use and air quality, with
the specific aim of improving environmental
performance. There was also significant pro -
gress in transport and land use in preparation for
the 2010 World Cup.

Johannesburg ranks above average overall in
the Index, along with five other cities. It is partic-
ularly strong in energy and CO2, land use, trans-
port, air quality and environmental governance,
ranking above average in each category. The
city’s environmental performance is bolstered
by having the second highest amount of green
space among the 15 Index cities and an exten-
sive bus network, as well as generally robust
environmental policies, especially for clean
energy and congestion reduction. The city’s per-
formance is very consistent – it never falls below

average in any individual category, achieving
average rankings in water, waste and sanitation.

Energy and CO2: Above average
Providing energy to Johannesburg’s 3.9 million
residents, half of whom live in cramped and
poorly served townships, is no easy feat. In the
colder months when demand is high, power
outages are regular occurrences. Still, an esti-
mated 90% of households in the city have access
to electricity, which is better than the Index aver-
age of 84%. Although the majority of people are
connected to the electricity grid, those in infor-
mal settlements rely on coal and wood fires. Grid
electricity is also highly dependent on coal,
which is responsible for more than 90% of the
city’s electricity production. As a result, CO2

well
below

average

below
average

average above
average

well
above

average

Performance

Energy and CO2

Land use

Transport

Waste

Water

Sanitation

Air quality

Environmental governance

Overall result

Johannesburg Other cities

The order of the dots within the performance bands has no bearing on the cities’ results.

Johannesburg is the economic centre of SouthAfrica and headquarters for the country’s
manufacturing and mining industries. A magnet
for migration, it is South Africa’s most populous
city, with around 3.9 million people. Johannes-
burg is located in the Gauteng province, which
has a total population of over 10 million. Water,
waste and sanitation standards are generally
better than in many of the other cities in the
African Green City Index, and often consistent
with those in more developed parts of the world.
However, like many developing cities in Africa
and globally, and due in part to the legacy of
Apartheid, there are wide income disparities
and dramatically different living conditions
between rich and poor. The city has introduced
several policies and plans, particularly in the


the Index average of 2.7 km, public transport in
the city is often unreliable or unsafe. This means
personal vehicles, for those who can afford
them, and mini-bus taxis for the less well off,
clog city streets. However, the city has worked to
improve, introducing a bus rapid transit system
and a high-speed train line to the airport (see
“green initiatives” below). Both of these initia-
tives have helped extend fast, safe and afford-
able transport options.

Green initiatives: There are two recently
launched major public transport initiatives in
Johannesburg, both of which were driven in
part by South Africa’s hosting of the 2010 World
Cup. The first is the high-speed train line, the
Gautrain, which links downtown Johannesburg
to Pretoria. It is already operational though
works are underway on one final station; the
train also connects the Johannesburg’s Sandton

Waste: Average
The city generates 401 kg per person of waste
each year, very much in line with the Index aver-
age of 408 kg. Almost 95% of this goes to land-
fill, with recycling and composting accounting
for less than 5% of waste treatment. The city has
introduced recycling through central collection
points rather than curb-side collection. Overall,
dealing with waste, including the estimated
244,000 tonnes that are illegally dumped each
year, remains a challenge in Johannesburg as
the city is rapidly running out of landfill space
and the population is growing.

Green initiatives: In a bid to increase recycling,
the city is drafting new regulations to make sep-
aration of waste into recyclables a legal require-
ment for residents and businesses. Non-compli-
ance could possibly be punishable by fines or
criminal prosecution. Pikitup, the city’s waste

Johannesburg’s water from as far away as
Lesotho or Botswana. Johannesburg performs
better than the Index average for water leak-
ages, at 25% compared with the Index average
of 30%. Plans are underway to introduce meters,
and improve billing and water delivery services,
which have had a reputation for administrative
errors in past years. Regarding policy, the munic-
ipality monitors surface water, ground water,
potable water and wastewater for multiple pol-
lutants and quality levels by taking water sam-
ples from about 150 different points in the city.
It has also placed sensors in key areas to detect
sewer overflows and pump-station failures. Fur-
thermore, the city promotes public awareness
on water conservation.

Green initiatives: Tackling the looming threat
of acid mine drainage will be one of the biggest
challenges for the city’s water department in the

Air quality: Above average
Johannesburg's above average performance in
the air quality category is driven by its strong
policies to improve air quality, including routine
and stringent air quality monitoring efforts.
Using a well-developed network of air monitor-
ing stations, the city measures sulphur dioxide,
nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and ozone
emissions from vehicles, industry and domestic
fuel burning. Despite aggressive action in this
area, air quality issues still persist, and Johan-
nesburg faces the same challenges as most
large cities in reducing air pollution. Vehicle
emissions are growing and air pollution is
posing a real health risk to residents, particular-
ly for people who live in areas where paraffin
and wood are commonly used for heating and
cooking. Dependence on fossil fuels for gener-
ating electricity also contributes to air quality
issues.

66 67

business district to OR Tambo International Air-
port. The second major initiative is the Rea Vaya
bus rapid transit system. Construction began in
2006, with the first route connecting the dense-
ly populated township of Soweto with down-
town Johannesburg. The 25 km route has 33
station stops, and a number of other feeder
routes join from the east and west. The long-
term plan is for the Rea Vaya to cover more than
300 km and become a transport option for 80%
of the city’s residents. Officials say it is the sin-
gle biggest initiative to tackle greenhouse gases
in the city. They also claim that if only 15% of
Johannesburg’s car users switched to Rea Vaya
buses, which run on low-sulphur diesel, instead
of using their private vehicles, the city would
cut its CO2 emissions by 1.6 million tonnes by
2020.

management company, has been piloting col-
lection of some recyclable materials from more
than 30,000 households, and is encouraging
people to use separate bins for paper, metal,
plastic, textiles and electronic equipment,
although this is voluntary.

Water: Average
Johannesburg residents consume 349 litres of
water per person per day, versus the Index aver-
age of 187 litres. An estimated 98% of the popu-
lation has access to potable water, more than
the Index average of 91%. Most of Johannes-
burg’s water supply is delivered from the Vaal
River 50 km away. In order to meet growing
demand and address concerns about industrial
contamination from past mining operations, the
city has considered long-term plans to source

next decade, and responsibility for the pro-
gramme has been scaled up to the central gov-
ernment. In early 2011 the national Department
of Water Affairs announced plans to install a
US$25 million pump to divert acid mine water
from the city’s water sources. As part of its 2011
revised Growth and Development Strategy the
city has said it is keen to invest in urban rainwa-
ter harvesting systems and capitalise from
increased rainfall due to climate change. The
city is currently canvassing for ideas about how
the rainwater harvest scheme will operate and
details are yet to be announced. In addition,
every year, usually in April, the city puts on a
Water Festival aimed at promoting water conser-
vation, with educational and family activities
hosted by the city and private companies that
sponsor the event.

Green initiatives: In 2003 the city launched
its Air Quality Management Plan, which has
been updated several times and forms part
of the 2040 Growth Development Strategy
launched in 2011. The city is proposing to add
five air quality monitoring stations to the exist-
ing six. Officials are also in the process of estab-
lishing an air pollution control bylaw that will
set acceptable industry and commercial emis-
sion levels. However, they have not specified
when the new rules are expected to come into
force.

Environmental governance:
Above average
The city government has several departments
focusing on different aspects of environmental
management, while various regional and neigh-
bourhood entities work in tandem with the
municipal authorities to carry out policies and
enforce regulations. Although the city govern-
ment must work under national law, it sets its
own environmental objectives and manage-
ment plans. Johannesburg has one of the best
records on environmental monitoring in the
Index: the municipal government regularly
monitors environmental performance and pub-
lishes information on progress. The latest itera-
tion was in 2008, when it published the State of
the Environment Report.

Green initiatives: Johannesburg’s Growth
Development Strategy, launched early August
2011, aims to set out a clear strategy for the
city’s management. It started with a nine-week
consultation period, during which nine separate
themes were tackled through community
events, roundtables and roadshows, as well as
high-level meetings and expert conferences.

Quantitative indicators

Category Indicator Average

ENERGY and CO2 Proportion of households with access to electricity (%) 84.2

Electricity consumption per capita (GJ/inhabitant) 6.4

CO2 emissions from electricity consumption per person (kg/person) 983.9

LAND USE Population density (persons/km2) 4,578.1

Population living in informal settlements (%) 38.0

Green spaces per person (m2/person) 73.6

TRANSPORT Length of mass transport network (km/km2) 2.7

Superior public transport network (km/km2) 0.07

WASTE Waste generated per person (kg/person/year) 407.8

WATER Population with access to potable water (%) 91.2

Water consumption per person (litres per person per day) 187.2

Water system leakages (%) 30.5

SANITATION Population with access to sanitation (%) 84.1
All data applies to Johannesburg unless stated otherwise below. * Where data from different years were used only the year of the main indicator is listed. e = EIU Estimate. 1) Number of bus routes (448) multiplied by average length of
a bus route (25 km). 2) There are no subway or tram lines. 3) Data refer to “unaccounted for water”

Johannesburg Year* Source

90.0e 2010 National Department of Cooperative Governance and
Traditional Affairs

5.6 2007 State of Energy Report 2008

1,483.8e 2007 State of Energy Report 2008

2,363.5 2007 EIU calculation

18.8e 2007 State of Energy Report 2008

230.7 2007 State of Energy Report 2008

6.81e 2003 Johannesburg Integrated Transport Plan 2003-2008

0.082 2010 Metrobus & Gautrain

401.3 2007 State of Energy Report 2008

98.3e 2007 Community survey 2007

348.7 2008 Johannesburg Water – Annual Report 2007/08

25.13 2008 Johannesburg Water – Annual Report 2007/08

91.9e 2007 Community survey 2007

Sanitation: Average
An estimated 92% of the population has access
to clean toilets, according to a 2007 community
survey, well above the Index average of 84%.
Unlike other parts of South Africa, Johannesburg
does not have open toilets, and most people
who live in informal settlements are given
portable toilets. Johannesburg Water owns and
operates six wastewater treatment works, which
treat all domestic sewage and industrial efflu-
ents.

Green initiatives: In 2008 the water depart-
ment committed US$139 million in its capital
budget to improving water infrastructure and
sewer networks. Work is still ongoing, though
exact details are difficult to obtain. In addition,
the city promotes proper sanitation at water
events such as the annual Water Festival held in
April.


68 69

Lagos_Nigeria

Background indicators
Total population (million) 1e 10.6

Administrative area (km2) 1 3,600

Population density (persons/km2) e 3,000

joules. Per capita CO2 emissions from electricity
consumption, at an estimated 36 kg, also are
well below the Index average of 984 kg. Just
over a quarter, 27%, of the city’s electricity is
generated from hydropower. Nevertheless,
Lagos faces electricity shortages and blackouts
are common, forcing households and industries
to rely on generators as an alternative power
supply.

Green initiatives: For the past three years the
state government has organised and hosted an
annual three-day International Summit on Cli-
mate Change, which demonstrates its commit-
ment to improving sustainability and mitigating
its environmental impact. Officials have also
been looking at ways to capitalise on global car-
bon credit trading schemes, such as the Kyoto
Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism,

Resources to champion the city’s electricity chal-
lenges and ensure the development of the
state’s natural mineral resources.

Land use: Below average
The World Bank estimates that two-thirds of
Lagos’s residents live in informal settlements,
compared with the Index average of 38%. Only
an estimated 20% to 40% of development in
Lagos is carried out with government approval.
Demand for land in Lagos has skyrocketed in line
with the city’s rapid population growth, and as a
result there are relatively few green spaces. They
measure an estimated 34 square metres per per-
son, compared with the Index average of 74
square metres. Policies to contain urban sprawl
are weaker than in many other cities in the
Index, and there are no clear policies protecting
existing environmentally sensitive areas from

African Green City Index

Lagos, located on the southwest coast ofNigeria, is the most populous city in the
African Green City Index, with an estimated
urban agglomeration of 10.6 million people. It is
made up of Lagos Island, the original city, and
the Mainland, which is comprised of rapidly
growing settlements. Lagos has a large concen-
tration of multinational companies and is home
to almost half of Nigeria’s skilled workers. It is
one of Africa’s five biggest consumer markets
and boasts a higher standard of living than any-
where else in Nigeria. Nevertheless, rapid ur -
banisation and population growth have intro-
duced significant challenges for its water, waste
management and sanitation infrastructure, and
have put pressure on the energy supply and traf-
fic management. However, officials are keen to
transform this mega-city into a first-class busi-

ness centre, and in the last decade have estab-
lished a dedicated environmental authority and
invested heavily in a mass transit plan.

Lagos ranks average overall in the Index,
with its best performance in the energy and CO2
category, where it ranks well above average.
This is driven by better-than-average levels of
electricity access, a very low rate of per capita
electricity consumption and low levels of CO2
emissions from electricity use. Lagos also places
above average in the waste category due to a
comparatively low rate of waste generation,
although challenges still remain in waste man-
agement. The city’s transport, water, sanitation,
air quality and environmental governance results
are average. Land use, where Lagos ranks below
average, remains a particularly challenging area
for the city because of the demands of a rapidly

growing population, which is expected to
increase by 33% by 2020, according to the UN.

Energy and CO2: Well above average
Lagos State as a whole consumes roughly 45%
of the country’s energy and is responsible for a
significant portion of its carbon footprint. In the
city, incinerated solid waste, bush burning,
domestic cooking, vehicles and electricity gen-
erators are the main sources of CO2 emissions.
Still, Lagos performs comparably well on most
indicators in the category. For example, UN
Habitat estimates that just under 100% of
households have access to electricity, more
than the Index average of 84%. In addition,
Lagos has one of the lowest per capita electrici-
ty consumption levels in the Index, at 0.8 giga-
joules, compared with the average of 6.4 giga-

under which developed countries can invest in
developing nations in exchange for carbon
emissions credits. In 2010 the Lagos State gov-
ernment kicked off its National Carbon Credit
Awareness Campaign to raise awareness around
the potential benefits of carbon trading. It also
supported the National Carbon Train, a cam-
paign to encourage low carbon emissions and
the potential for earning carbon credits. As part
of this the Lagos State Environmental Protection
Agency has established a Carbon Credit Centre
to deal with carbon credit consultations, trans-
actions, applications and trading, and also to
promote clean energy deals. In addition, the city
is piloting various renewable energy schemes,
including solar street lights and wind turbines.
Moreover, in July 2011 the Lagos State govern-
ment created a Ministry of Energy and Mineral

development, although the state government
has initiatives in place to plant trees and improve
green spaces (see “green initiatives” below).

Green initiatives: In 2008 the Lagos State gov-
ernment, in collaboration with the Clinton Cli-
mate Initiative, embarked on a beautification
programme for its major open spaces and high-
ways. A year earlier it had started an aggressive
tree planting campaign, with the commitment
to plant a million trees within four years, which
should have a positive impact on air quality.
Within two years over 500,000 trees had been
planted. On top of this the state government
called on the private sector to partner with it in
the greening of public spaces. A parks and gar-
den agency is being established to drive this pro-
gramme forward.

1) Lagos State, e = EIU Estimate

well
below

average

below
average

average above
average

well
above

average

Performance

Energy and CO2

Land use

Transport

Waste

Water

Sanitation

Air quality

Environmental governance

Overall result

Lagos Other cities

The order of the dots within the performance bands has no bearing on the cities’ results.


Quantitative indicators

Category Indicator Average

ENERGY and CO2 Proportion of households with access to electricity (%) 84.2

Electricity consumption per capita (GJ/inhabitant) 6.4

CO2 emissions from electricity consumption per person (kg/person) 983.9

LAND USE Population density (persons/km2) 4,578.1

Population living in informal settlements (%) 38.0

Green spaces per person (m2/person) 73.6

TRANSPORT Length of mass transport network (km/km2) 2.7

Superior public transport network (km/km2) 0.07

WASTE Waste generated per person (kg/person/year) 407.8

WATER Population with access to potable water (%) 91.2

Water consumption per person (litres per person per day) 187.2

Water system leakages (%) 30.5

SANITATION Population with access to sanitation (%) 84.1

Transport: Average
With over six million cars on the road every day,
thoroughfares are congested and polluted. The
public transport system, consisting mainly of
tens of thousands of privately owned buses, is
not directly controlled by city officials. Rail net-
works are limited, although the city introduced
bus rapid transit in 2008 to tackle the huge mass
transit challenges (see “green initiatives” below).
As a result, the city’s public transport network is
considerably shorter than the Index average,
measuring 0.1 km per square kilometre, com-
pared with the Index average of 2.7, though due
to data availability private operators were not
included. However, the state has a comprehen-
sive urban mass transport policy in place and has
awarded contracts for two new rail lines. The
Lagos State Waterways Authority is considering
using the city’s waterways for transport and has
built jetties intended for ferry transport.

Green initiatives: In March 2008 the Lagos
State government introduced bus rapid transit
in conjunction with the private sector. This was
promoted as an affordable, reliable and safe
means of travelling while significantly reducing
congestion on the city’s roads. The buses, run-
ning in dedicated lanes, can reduce journey
times by 30%. In 2010 there were 220 buses in
operation and 120 million passengers used the
system in the two years of operation, reducing
carbon emissions by an estimated 13%.

Waste: Above average
Lagos generates an estimated 276 kg of waste
per capita annually, less than the Index average
of 408 kg. Municipal solid waste is disposed of at
the state’s three landfills and two temporary
sites. City officials have stated a goal to make
Lagos Africa’s cleanest city by 2012, and are
working with the World Bank and the Clinton Cli-
mate Initiative to establish modern, efficient

waste management infrastructure. Still, only an
estimated 10% of the city’s rubbish is currently
collected. Waste pickers operate informally,
although the city has tried to curb their activities.

Green initiatives: The Lagos Megacity Project
is the overarching waste policy of the state gov-
ernment. One of the most notable initiatives of
the past decade was the waste-to-wealth pro-
gramme to convert various types of waste into
usable materials. The programme was intro-
duced in 1999 but has gathered momentum in
recent years. As part of this programme, Lagos
has established one of the biggest compost
plants in Africa and converts 800 tonnes of
municipal solid waste into fertiliser each day. In
addition, the city has established four small-
scale plastic-recycling plants, which convert 30
metric tonnes of nylon or plastic waste materials
into usable products like shopping bags. In April
2011 the state waste management authority
announced that it had installed 20 recycling
banks across the state, with 1,000 more to come
within two years.

Water: Average
Lagos has one of the lowest water consumption
figures in the Index, at 90 litres per person per
day, compared with the Index average of 187
litres. An estimated 88% of the population has
access to potable water, versus the Index average
of 91%. The city’s main water sources are local
rivers and it does not suffer from water scarcity
relative to the other 14 cities in the Index. Still,
the delivery system to provide water to end users
is insufficient, with treatment plants suffering
from electricity shortages and pipe infrastructure
that doesn’t meet the needs of the population.
Ten additional mini-waterworks were unveiled in
February 2011 and five more are under construc-
tion, but no target date for completion has been
set. The city has forecasted that these plants,

along with improved electricity supply to the
water plants, will dramatically improve Lagos’s
water delivery system. Desalination plants are
not currently in use, though the city has consid-
ered this as a long-term strategy.

Green initiatives: The World Bank is currently
conducting a water initiative across the states of
Lagos and Cross River called the Second National
Urban Water Sector Reform Project. It has several
aims: to improve the reliability of water supplies
produced by the water treatment works in
Lagos; to increase access to piped water net-
works in four cities in Cross River State; and to
improve the commercial viability of urban water
utilities in Cross River and Lagos states. The pro-
ject was approved in 2005 and is expected to
end in May 2013. Some of the practical out-
comes of the project will be the installation of
safe and suitable housing for pumps and gener-
ators; hiring better-trained chemists, biologists
and water scientists for laboratory work; com-
pletely fencing-off the perimeter of water treat-
ment plants; using better and more secure man-
hole covers; and conducting more frequent
testing of water before it is pumped out for dis-
tribution.

Sanitation: Average
An estimated 83% of the population has access
to sanitation, compared with the Index average
of 84%. While there are no major wastewater
treatment facilities in the city, Lagos State oper-
ates five smaller wastewater treatment plants
serving about 500,000 people, a fraction of the
total population. The state government set out a
five-year sanitation plan in 2010, which includes
a goal to improve water treatment infrastruc-
ture. In addition, the government conducts
inspections of septic tanks and has ordered the
removal of prohibited pit latrines (a dry toilet
system that collects waste in large containers).

The exact nature of enforcement is unknown,
but noncompliance is subject to prosecution.

Air quality: Average
Lagos has high concentrations of pollutants such
as carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and nitro-
gen oxides, which explains why respiratory ail-
ments due to air pollution are not uncommon.
Some monitoring of air quality is conducted in
non-industrial locations around the city, but this
system is far from complete. All pollutants are reg-
ularly monitored in industrial areas. Nevertheless,
with a rapidly expanding population, a limited
public transit network and an economy centred
largely on refining petrochemicals, Lagos faces
major challenges in improving air quality. The
newly established National Environmental Stan-
dards and Regulation Enforcement Agency, and
the vision of a cleaner and healthier environment
they intend to deliver, are positive steps forward.

Green initiatives: The Nigerian government
has a long-standing ban on the import of cars

more than five years old. While the government
has not put any other specific measures in place,
such as monitoring emissions from cars and
generators, preventing very old cars from enter-
ing the country is expected to have a positive
effect on air quality over time.

Environmental governance: Average
The Lagos State Environmental Protection
Agency, created in 1996, oversees and imple-
ments environmental policy for the city. In addi-
tion, citizens, non-governmental organisations
and other stakeholders have been involved, to
some extent, regarding decisions on projects
with major environmental impact. One such
organisation, Environmental Rights Action,
regularly collaborates with the state govern-
ment on major environmental issues and
sometimes serves as an unofficial watchdog.
Most laws that deal with the environment
are not passed without a public hearing in
the State House of Assembly. In 2008 the
state government conducted a baseline review

70 71

on water, sanitation and transport, though it
is unclear how the results of that study were
used.

Green initiatives: In 2006 the World Bank
started an initiative, the Lagos Metropolitan
Development and Governance Project, which
aims to invest in critical infrastructure to
increase access to basic urban services. It
includes programmes to improve the profession-
al capacity of the Lagos State Urban Renewal
Authority to assess, develop, plan and coordi-
nate a city-wide infrastructure programme, and
to support public finance and budget reforms.
The project is expected to end in September
2013. In another initiative, the National Environ-
ment Standards and Regulations Enforcement
Agency launched a competition on environmen-
tal protection in July 2011 for senior secondary
schools, in an effort to improve sanitation
awareness. The competition is aimed at encour-
aging school children to adopt healthful envi-
ronmental practices.

All data applies to Lagos unless stated otherwise below. * Where data from different years were used only the year of the main indicator is listed. e = EIU Estimate. 1) Lagos State. 2) National electricity generation mix used to estimate
city level CO2 data. 3) There are no subway, tram or light-rail lines. 4) Unclear whether data refers to "unaccounted for water" or "system leakage".

Lagos Year* Source

99.8 e 2003 UN Habitat

0.8 1 2010 Lagos Bureau of Statistics

35.9 2e 2009 Lagos Bureau of Statistics

2,957.2 2010 EIU calculation

66.0 1e 2006 World Bank

33.8 e 2009 Lagos Commissioner for the Environment

0.1 2009 Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority

0.01 3 2010 Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority

276.0 e 2009 Lagos Waste Management Authority

88.2 e 2003 UN Habitat

90.1 2009 GM Water Corporation

30.0 4e 2009 GM Water Corporation

82.9 e 2003 UN Habitat


72 73

Luanda_Angola

Background indicators
Total population (million) 5.8

Administrative area (km2) 1 2,300

Population density (persons/km2) 2,600

built suburbs, nearly all homes and businesses
rely on diesel-powered generators. For reasons
of data availability electricity produced and con-
sumed from these generators were not includ-
ed in the Index, nor were annual CO2 emissions
from diesel generators. Electricity consumption
per capita, at just under 1 gigajoule, is well
below the Index average of 6.4 gigajoules,
though if diesel generators were taken into
account consumption would likely be much
higher. Annual CO2 emissions from electricity
consumption per person are 3 kg, compared
with the Index average of nearly 984 kg. Green
energy also plays a part in keeping CO2 emis-
sions down. The share of renewable energy in
Luanda’s electricity production, not including
electricity generated from diesel generators, is
96%, all of which is hydropower. Only Maputo
in the Index has a higher share of renewable
energy in electricity production. Other than its

but no details have been published. Angola has
signed up to the Kyoto Protocol, and there are
national climate change action plans and CO2
reduction strategies. Although these strategies
endorse the concept of uniform standards, they
do not contain specific policy suggestions.

Land use: Well below average
An estimated 69% of Luanda’s population lives
in musseques, the informal settlements that
have spread from the city centre in all directions
for 20 km. In recent years there have been a
number of controversial informal settlement
clearances with residents transferred to new
accommodations (although sometimes they are
just given tents) some 30 km from the city cen-
tre in an area known as Zango. The land
reclaimed from these clearances is usually sold
for expensive office and luxury housing devel-
opment. A number of large-scale national gov-

African Green City Index

Luanda is the capital city of Angola, a countryin south-central Africa. Located on Angola’s
west coast, facing the Atlantic Ocean, Luanda is
also the country’s major seaport. Angola, for-
merly a colony of Portugal, has undergone enor-
mous socio-economic upheavals that have
impacted the capital city. The Portuguese built
Luanda to accommodate around 500,000 peo-
ple but during the Angolan Civil War (1975-
2002), which followed independence from Por-
tugal, people flocked to the city in the belief it
was safer than other parts of the country. Luan-
da’s population has now swelled to 5.8 million,
which has put a strain on the city’s few resour -
ces. Electricity supplies and potable water are
scarce, and the majority of the city’s population
lives in informal settlements known as musse-
ques. Luanda is also the capital of Luanda

Province, a collection of municipalities sur-
rounding the city. Luanda Province and the
national government share the jurisdiction of
Luanda. There is no separate city government.

Luanda ranks below average overall in the
African Green City Index. The city is average in
the categories of energy and CO2, waste and
sanitation. Its placement in these areas is a
reflection of its low level of CO2 emissions from
electricity, a low rate of waste generation and
high access to sanitation. However, in four cate-
gories – land use, transport, water and environ-
mental governance – the city is well below aver-
age. Given the pressing need for more water and
electricity, and the daunting challenge of man-
aging the sprawling musseques that surround
the city, it is perhaps not surprising that Luanda
has yet to develop a strong environmental agen-

da. The city is trying to increase access to water
and electricity. That said, much-needed improve -
ments in waste, land use, sanitation and trans-
port would improve living conditions, and also
benefit the environment. Luanda’s few green
initiatives are mostly led by the national govern-
ment and are short on detail. The absence of a
city government, championing environmental
improvements for its citizens, seems to work
against Luanda. However, the city’s overall per-
formance could improve with the recent adop-
tion of a master plan aimed at improving the
city’s water, land use, sanitation, transportation
and energy infrastructure.

Energy and CO2: Average
One in every four households in Luanda has no
access to electricity. In the city centre and newly

commitment to hydropower, Luanda scores
poorly in policy areas. In some ways that is
understandable. Policies aimed at reducing the
environmental impact of energy consumption
are unl ike ly to be a priority when the focus is on
increas ing energy supply and access to the elec-
tricity grid.

Green initiatives: The national government
has pledged to spend US$18 billion by 2016 to
build new dams, and upgrade the electricity grid
and power lines. In 2010 there was a city-run
campaign to introduce low-energy light bulbs
but no data is available about how many house-
holds it served or its success rate. There are
some solar-powered traffic lights in the city and
officials have discussed the possibility of new
housing developments incorporating solar power,

ernment housing projects are under way, but
although many of the new apartment blocks are
ready, the policy for allocation and their price
has yet to be decided, and they remain empty.
Built in open spaces away from the urban
sprawl, these housing developments are de -
scribed as “new cities” but appear to have few
public transport and road links between them.
Also access to the urban centre and employment
is limited. Luanda Province is short of green
space, with an estimated 0.09 square metres of
green space per person. Some work is under
way, however, to rehabilitate the green spaces
that remain.

Transport: Well below average
Luanda’s transport infrastructure is sparse and
dilapidated. At an estimated 0.2 km per square

1) Luanda province

well
below

average

below
average

average above
average

well
above

average

Performance

Energy and CO2

Land use

Transport

Waste

Water

Sanitation

Air quality

Environmental governance

Overall result

Luanda Other cities

The order of the dots within the performance bands has no bearing on the cities’ results.


kilometre, the length of Luanda’s mass trans-
port network is much shorter than the Index
average, at 2.7 km per square kilometre. Luan-
da is also one of only a handful of cities in the
Index that has yet to embark on building a supe-
rior public transport network (defined as sub-
ways, trams, light rail or bus rapid transit).
Luanda’s roads are invariably clogged by dense
traffic. Office workers living in the new suburbs
of Talatona, just 15 km south of Luanda, face a
three-hour commute into the city centre each
morning. The heat and humidity, coupled with
dusty streets where pavements are rare and
crime is common, mean walking is not an
option for anyone working in an office or similar
environment. Cycling is also impossible due to
the level of congestion, poor driving, bad road
surfaces and high temperatures. There are no
policies to reduce traffic congestion, although
road tolls and pedestrian areas are reportedly in
the planning stage. There are some transport
and housing plans at a national level (see
“green initiatives” below), which, if carried out,
should re duce congestion in Luanda’s city cen-
tre.

Green initiatives: The national government
has nearly finished a new ring road linking the
town of Cacuaco to the north of Luanda, to

Viana and the new government housing devel-
opments in the east, and to the suburbs of Benfi-
ca and Talatona in the south. The national gov-
ernment has longer-term plans for a metro in
Luanda but there is no current strategy to move
forward. In 2009 the national Ministry of Trans-
port published its 2009-2012 plan for transport
development in Angola, which discusses “estab-
lishing strategies and plans”, and developing
better systems and services as well as an “inte-
grated transport network”. There are few con-
crete plans in the document, however. There
have also been several public pledges about cre-
ating bus lanes, introducing maritime taxis and
generally reducing city centre congestion.

Waste: Average
Poorer cities tend to generate less waste than
richer ones, and Luanda follows that trend.
Waste per capita in Luanda is an estimated
292 kg every year, which is lower than the Index
average of 408 kg and much lower than in the
richer South African cities. Luanda also scores
well for its waste collection and disposal policy.
It is one of only three cities in the Index that fully
enforces environmental standards for the dis-
posal of waste in landfill and incineration sites.
Littering is also banned. For all that, however,
significant waste problems remain. Private com-

panies are responsible for weekly rubbish collec-
tions in most parts of the inner city, but demand
far outweighs collection capacity and large piles
of waste on Luanda’s streets are a common
sight. In informal settlements, waste collection
is limited and rubbish is usually dumped in open
sewers, often blocking them and causing flood-
ing. And the law against littering is generally
ignored. Luanda has no recycling schemes and
all waste goes to a single landfill some 20 km
outside the city centre.

Green initiatives: The national government
began discussing plans for a recycling law in
2008 and since then officials have held several
workshops on the topic, but no concrete plans or
policies have emerged. In June 2011 Bevcan, a
South African canned-beverage manufacturer,
launched a programme called Reclatas to recycle
used aluminium drinks cans produced by its
recently-opened Luanda factory. This is the
first initiative of its kind in the city, but the com-
pany has not released any more details. The
Provincial Government of Luanda (GPL) runs bill-
board, television and radio campaigns, often
involving pop stars, to try to discourage street
littering.

Water: Well below average
Potable water is scarcer in Luanda than in any
other city in the Index. Barely more than half of
the city’s population has access to drinking
water against an Index average of 91%. Through
lack of supply, water consumption in Luanda is
by some distance the lowest in the Index. An
estimated 20 litres of water are consumed per
person in Luanda every day, yet the Index aver-
age is more than nine times that amount. The
government water company, Empresa de Aguas
de Luanda (EPAL), says it only supplies water to
around 131,000 households in a city which has
a population of 5.8 million. With such limited
supply, measures to reduce over consumption
are not a concern for the city.

Green initiatives: The national Ministry of
Health, UNICEF, and other international and
national non-governmental organisations run
campaigns to encourage people to use sterilisa-
tion products to avoid cholera and other water-
borne infections. EPAL and the Environment
Ministry run water-conservation awareness
campaigns through posters, television ads and
radio ads encouraging people, for example, not
to wash their cars with buckets in the street,
because it wastes water.

Sanitation: Average
Luanda’s sprawling musseques bring inevitable
sanitation challenges. UN Habitat estimates 92%

of the city’s population has access to some type
of sanitation system, but they are rarely the flush
systems used in developed cities. Drains and sep-
tic tanks are widely used in formal areas. Even in
offices and homes, it is common for lavatories to
be manually flushed with bucket water. Informal
settlements generally lack sanitation infrastruc-
ture. Although the city promotes public awareness
about sanitation (see “green initiatives” below),
there is no regular monitoring of on-site sanita-
tion facilities, either in homes or communal areas.

Green initiatives: There are some local gov-
ernment poster campaigns, and television and
radio advertisements to discourage people
from urinating and defecating in the open
air, with some linked to wider health cam-
paigns run by agencies like UNICEF. Con-
struction of latrines in informal settlements has
been left largely to non-governmental organi-
sations, such as Development Workshop, and
individuals.

Air quality: Below average
There is no formal monitoring of air pollution in
Luanda but the level of contamination is likely to
be high given the huge volume of vehicles using
the roads, the heavy reliance on diesel-powered
generators and the number of air conditioning
systems in operation. There are no specific ini-
tiatives in place to improve air quality in the city,
although Luanda makes some effort to inform
citizens about the dangers of air pollution.

Environmental governance:
Well below average
Luanda is the only city in the Index that falls into
the well below average category for environ-
mental governance. There is some citizen
involvement in decision-making for projects
that might have a major environmental impact,
but other than that Luanda fails to pick up any
points in this category. Developing a strong
environmental agenda is, understandably per-
haps, not a top priority for Luanda, particularly

74 75

at a time when the need to increase access to
water and energy is more important than cur-
tailing consumption. What is a concern is that
Luanda has no direct control over its own envi-
ronmental affairs, which might hamper any
future green efforts. The Provincial Govern-
ment of Luanda (GPL) has a Directorate of Pub-
lic Works, Urbanism and Environment, but this
department has neither a budget nor a clear
purpose. Most GPL policy remains highly cen-
tralised, while the remit of the national Ministry
of Environment does not appear to make any
city or region-specific plans. No departments
within the GPL hold any city-specific environ-
mental data, although plans are said to be in
place to rectify that.

Green initiatives: In July 2010 the Ministry of
Environment began working on a national envi-
ronment database as part of a project being
financed by the African Development Bank, but
work on this is still ongoing.

Quantitative indicators

Category Indicator Average

ENERGY and CO2 Proportion of households with access to electricity (%) 84.2

Electricity consumption per capita (GJ/inhabitant) 6.4

CO2 emissions from electricity consumption per person (kg/person) 983.9

LAND USE Population density (persons/km2) 4,578.1

Population living in informal settlements (%) 38.0

Green spaces per person (m2/person) 73.6

TRANSPORT Length of mass transport network (km/km2) 2.7

Superior public transport network (km/km2) 0.07

WASTE Waste generated per person (kg/person/year) 407.8

WATER Population with access to potable water (%) 91.2

Water consumption per person (litres per person per day) 187.2

Water system leakages (%) 30.5

SANITATION Population with access to sanitation (%) 84.1

All data applies to Luanda unless stated otherwise below. * Where data from different years were used only the year of the main indicator is listed. e = EIU Estimate. 1) National electricity generation mix used to estimate city level CO2
data. Almost all electricity in Angola is generated from hydro (IEA). 2) Luanda province. 3) There are no subway, tram, light-rail or BRT lines.

Luanda Year* Source

75.5 e 2006 UN Habitat

1.0 e 2009 EDEL (state electricity company)

2.7 1e 2009 EDEL (state electricity company)

2,554.3 2008 EIU calculation

69.4 e 2006 Care International Report

0.1 2e 2007 Dept de Servicios Communitarios

0.2 e 2010 TCUL (public bus operator)

0.00 3 2009 Caminho de Ferro Luanda

292.0 2e 2009 ELISAL (Empresa de Limpeza e Saneamento de Luanda)

51.4 e 2006 UN Habitat

20.0 2e 2009 Development Workshop Angola (NGO) 2009 report

29.9 e 2009 Development Workshop Angola (NGO) 2009 report

92.4 e 2006 UN Habitat


76 77

Maputo_Mozambique

Background indicators
Total population (million) 1.2

Administrative area (km2) 300

Population density (persons/km2) 4,100

consumption, at less than 1 gigajoule, is also
well below the Index average of 6.4 gigajoules.
Residents and businesses in the city centre have
access to fairly dependable power through the
national power utility, Electricidade de Mocam-
bique (EDM), but the situation is much less reli-
able in informal settlements. These areas, which
dominate the city’s landscape, are largely
unconnected to the grid. Thus overall, Maputo
also has the lowest rate of electricity access in
the Index, at an estimated 29% of households
compared with the Index average of 84%.

Green initiatives: In 2006 EDM introduced a
new plan to connect informal settlements to the
grid through a pre-paid system of electricity pro-
vision, in which users buy a specific amount of
energy credit up front, similar to a pre-paid

challenge of sprawl is increasing, with many
workers in Maputo choosing to live in Matola, a
formally separate city of about 700,000 people
17 km west of Maputo. In a 2010 report the
World Bank concluded that Maputo and Matola
now form a single metropolitan area despite the
lack of formal metropolitan governmental struc-
tures. Some observers now refer to a “greater
Maputo” area that includes Matola.

Green initiatives: Maputo’s master plan calls
for the “massive regularisation” of informal set-
tlements, which means that ownership rights
will be granted. The provision of ownership
rights will increase residential security of tenure,
which leads to increased household income and
investment. By 2015 the government aims to
provide ownership rights to over 30,000 house-

African Green City Index

Maputo, the capital of Mozambique and itslargest city, is home to 1.2 million resi-
dents, making it the second smallest city in pop-
ulation terms in the African Green City Index.
Although an estimated 70% of Maputo’s resi-
dents live in informal settlements that often lack
safe drinking water and sanitation, in recent
years the local government has made substan-
tial efforts to upgrade infrastructure and ser-
vices across the city. Urban planning is a some-
what new concept for Maputo, with officials
having prioritised rural reconstruction and
development in the years after the civil war
ended in 1994. Nevertheless, many promising
initiatives are under way, including a ten-year
World Bank-funded project called the Maputo
Municipal Development Program (PROMAPUTO),

which aims to improve the city’s institutional
capacity, service delivery and infrastructure by
2017. Also, in 2008 Maputo’s municipal council
approved a master plan to guide the city’s urban
planning.

Despite positive strides, Maputo ranks well
below average overall in the Index. The city
achieves its strongest placement in the waste
category, where it is average due to a relatively
low rate of waste generated per person.
Although the city falls to below average in most
other categories, it excels in the area of electrici-
ty generated from renewable sources, with
nearly 100% of its power supply generated by
hydro. Maputo also has reasonably low per capi-
ta electricity and water consumption figures.
While these low figures lessen Maputo’s envi-

ronmental footprint, they also illustrate that a
significant percentage of the population lacks
access to basic services. The city has the most
room for improvement in sanitation, where it
ranks well below average due to the high per-
centage of inhabitants left without access to
sanitation services.

Energy and CO2: Below average
Almost 100% of Maputo’s energy is generated
by renewable sources, primarily hydropower
from the Cahora Bassa dam in northern Mozam-
bique. On a per capita basis, Maputo performs
favourably for CO2 emissions from electricity
consumption, at an estimated less than one kilo-
gram per person, compared with the Index aver-
age of 984 kg. In addition, per capita electricity

phone. The programme appears to have effec-
tively expanded access to electricity.

Land use: Below average
According to the World Bank, an estimated 70%
of Maputo’s residents live in informal settle-
ments, a result of low incomes coupled with
rapid urbanisation. This is well above the Index
average of 38%. The city performs more
favourably in the area of green spaces, boasting
an estimated 115 square metres of green space
per person, compared with the Index average of
74 square metres. Maputo has at least half a
dozen parks and gardens in the city centre, as
well as a few coastal ecological zones. However,
Maputo would benefit from stronger policies
aimed at containing urban sprawl. Indeed, the

holds. The city also intends to protect existing
green spaces as well as introduce new ones. In
the north of the city, a 600-hectare green area is
currently occupied by the national defence min-
istry and used to store military equipment.
Under the master plan, the military equipment
on this land will be moved outside the city to
make way for a public park.

Transport: Below average
Like many cities in the developing world,
Maputo’s rapid urbanisation has not been
matched with public investment in an efficient
mass transit system, and the city lacks a trans-
port master plan. Private vehicles and shared
minivan taxis called chapas are the primary
forms of transport in the city. Since 2009

well
below

average

below
average

average above
average

well
above

average

Performance

Energy and CO2

Land use

Transport

Waste

Water

Sanitation

Air quality

Environmental governance

Overall result

Maputo Other cities

The order of the dots within the performance bands has no bearing on the cities’ results.


three-wheeled motorised rickshaws, called
txopelas, have also become popular. Maputo
has a long way to go in terms of transport, but
the city appears poised to improve its perfor-
mance in this area in the coming years as urban
transport is a major priority of the World Bank-
sponsored PROMAPUTO project.

Green initiatives: In 2011 the government
ordered 150 compressed natural gas (CNG)
buses, which emit fewer air pollutants. The first
batch of 32 CNG buses arrived in June and the
rest were scheduled to arrive later in 2011.

Waste: Average
The city produces an estimated 294 kg of waste
per person per year, well below the Index aver-
age of 408 kg. Households and businesses pay a
waste collection fee, which is collected through
the electricity company. This fee is prorated
based on energy consumed, on the logic that
consumers using less energy also produce less

plastic bags. By December 2010 the programme
was extended to include the majority of the in -
formal neighbourhoods, according to city officials.

Water: Below average
Until December 2010, the city’s water system
was operated by a private company under a con-
cession contract that was scheduled to end in
2014. However, because of concerns over per-
formance, the public Water Supply Investments
and Assets Fund (FIPAG) assumed control of the
city’s public water system in January 2011. Cur-
rently, UN Habitat estimates that only 83% of
Maputo’s population has access to potable water,
compared with the Index average of 91%. Between
400 to 600 small, private – and frequently unli-
censed – water suppliers serve as much as 25%
of Maputo’s water market, primarily in informal
settlements that are not yet connected to the
city’s water supply system. These operators use
several methods, including the provision of
untreat ed groundwater from shallow wells, the

tions, so that they can begin selling treated
water to end users. The improvement of the
city’s water supply and services is also a priority
of the World Bank’s PROMAPUTO programme.

Sanitation: Well below average
Sanitation is a major challenge for Maputo. Only
an estimated 49% of the city’s population has
access to sanitation, compared with the Index
average of 84%. Informal settlements frequently
lack access to sanitation services; residents
instead use latrines that are not only insufficient
in number and sometimes shoddily constructed,
but also subject to collapse during periods of
heavy rainfall and flooding. Even in the city cen-
tre, which is served by both a sewage system
and septic tanks linked to the storm-water drainage
network, inadequate infrastructure and mainte-
nance remain persistent problems. This often
leads to raw sewage emptying into the nearby
Maputo Bay. Though overlapping national and
local institutional roles have somewhat hin-

sanitation services. Though strategies and plans
have proliferated at the national level, a city san-
itation strategy is a necessary first step to creat-
ing synergy among public officials, communi-
ties and non-governmental organisations.

Air quality: Below average
The main sources of air pollution are informal
shared taxis, chapas, that ply the streets despite
their poor emissions standards, as well as near-
by aluminium and cement factories. The city has
not yet created an air quality monitoring system,
nor does it regularly monitor or promote air
quality. Independent air pollution studies in
Maputo indicate “exceedingly high” concentra-
tions of particulate matter. Developing enforce-
able regulatory standards is among the chal-
lenges city officials will face in the years ahead.

Green initiatives: In March 2010 the city
adopted a new initiative to inspect automobiles

older than four years. One category for inspec-
tions is carbon emissions, with high-emissions
vehicles banned from the roads. It is unclear
how much progress has been made so far.

Environmental governance:
Below average
The city has experienced a degree of institution-
al reform from the first phase of the World Bank-
supported PROMAPUTO programme. This in -
cludes the establishment of the Maputo
municipal council, which now oversees environ-
mental decision-making. Though the council
has the ability to issue environmental licenses,
monitor water and sanitation quality, and man-
age waste, it is staffed with only ten full-time
employees and is limited in its ability to imple-
ment environmental policies. In the future, the
enlargement of this agency, both in terms of size
and authority, will be a key indicator of Maputo’s
effectiveness in environmental governance.

78 79

Green initiatives: In 2011 the Maputo muni-
cipal council’s environmental department
launch ed an awareness campaign to educate
students about the importance of protecting
the environment. According to the depart-
ment’s director, representatives have visited
most of Maputo’s schools, highlighting the
importance of planting trees and keeping
beaches clean. The department also initiated a
tree-planting programme in schools and by
mid-2011 an estimated 2,800 trees had been
planted. Another new initiative concerns cli-
mate change. Because it is a coastal city,
Maputo is extremely vulnerable to rising sea
levels, flooding and erosion. In April 2010 UN
Habitat signed an agreement with city officials
to conduct a study on the potential impact of
climate change on Maputo and suggest ways to
address the risks. The city hopes to develop a
formal climate change adaptation plan based
on the results of the research.

Quantitative indicators

Category Indicator Average

ENERGY and CO2 Proportion of households with access to electricity (%) 84.2

Electricity consumption per capita (GJ/inhabitant) 6.4

CO2 emissions from electricity consumption per person (kg/person) 983.9

LAND USE Population density (persons/km2) 4,578.1

Population living in informal settlements (%) 38.0

Green spaces per person (m2/person) 73.6

TRANSPORT Length of mass transport network (km/km2) 2.7

Superior public transport network (km/km2) 0.07

WASTE Waste generated per person (kg/person/year) 407.8

WATER Population with access to potable water (%) 91.2

Water consumption per person (litres per person per day) 187.2

Water system leakages (%) 30.5

SANITATION Population with access to sanitation (%) 84.1
All data applies to Maputo unless stated otherwise below. * Where data from different years were used only the year of the main indicator is listed. e = EIU Estimate. 1) National electricity generation mix used to estimate city level CO2
data. Almost all electricity in Mozambique is generated from hydro (IEA). 2) There are no dedicated bus routes in Maputo. 3) There are no subway, tram, light-rail or BRT lines. 4) Unclear whether data refer to “unaccounted for water”
or “system leakage”

Maputo Year* Source

28.8e 2003 UN Habitat

0.8 2006 Electricidade de Mocambique - Annual Statistical Report 2007

0.041e 2009 Electricidade de Mocambique - Annual Statistical Report 2007

4,147.4 2006 EIU calculation

70.0e 2010 World Bank

114.9e 2009 Directorate of Urban Plannification and Environment

0.02 2011 –

0.003 2011 –

293.9e 2010 Maputo Waste Management Department

82.8e 2003 UN Habitat

99.1e 2010 Mozambique Country Water Resources, Assistance Strategy

50.04e 2009 Fundo de Investimento e Patrimonio de Abastecimento de Agua

48.8e 2003 UN Habitat

waste. However, only about 19% of Maputo’s
generated waste is collected and the city cur-
rently lacks environmental standards for waste
disposal. Most collected waste is deposited in
Hulene, a large open-air dump that extends over
17 hectares on the outskirts of the city and is
widely considered a threat to public health.
Maputo officials intend to close Hulene by 2014
and open a new sanitary landfill in the nearby
city of Matola. This costly project will rely upon
central government funding and approval from
Matola, which has not yet consented.

Green initiatives: For informal settlements, which
lack proper roads, in 2007 the city piloted a pro-
ject to contract with micro-enterprises to collect
household waste on foot, going door-to-door with

resale of water from the water company or the
distribution of piped water from bore holes.
These methods, though undoubtedly entrepre-
neurial, have potentially negative implications
for public health and groundwater sustainabili-
ty, and are also more expensive than the public
water system. In Maputo an estimated 50% of
water is lost to leakages, compared with the Index
average of 30%. The city’s per capita water con-
sumption is an estimated 99 litres per person per
day, almost half the Index average of 187 litres.

Green initiatives: City officials are currently
studying and piloting alternative methods for
water distribution. Recently FIPAG began collab-
orating with the small water providers to for-
malise, legalise and professionalise their opera-

dered progress on sanitation policies to date,
plans are in place to promote environmentally
sustainable sanitation services under the PRO -
MAPUTO umbrella (see “green initiatives” below).

Green initiatives: The improvement of sanita-
tion services is a priority of the World Bank-
funded PROMAPUTO plan over the next five
years. The city is in the process of developing a
Citywide Sanitation Strategy through consulta-
tion with donors and non-governmental organi-
sations. Since 2004 a raft of national-level sani-
tation policies have been drafted: a Seven Cities
Sanitation Strategy (2004), which included
Maputo and Matola; a Strategic Plan of Urban
Sanitation (2006); and a National Water Policy
(2007), which had implications for Maputo’s


80 81

Nairobi_Kenya

Background indicators
Total population (million) 3.1

Administrative area (km2) 700

Population density (persons/km2) 4,500

Green initiatives: Kenya’s first wind power
plant, completed in 2010 with six turbines pro-
ducing up to 5 megawatts of power, is located in
the Ngong Hills 22 km outside Nairobi. Financ-
ing has been announced for a second phase of
the project, which could bring the total capacity
to 11 megawatts, enough to power 2,000 house -
holds. The national government is also explor-
ing more wind power projects in other parts of
the country. Although hydro-power is still a very
small part of the energy mix in Kenya, national
officials are looking at ways to diversify away
from it because of unreliable rainfall.

Land use: Average
The city has relatively strong regulations protect-
ing green spaces and environmentally sensitive
areas, but the total amount of green space per
person, at 37 square metres, is below the Index
average of 74 square metres. Nairobi also has a

for water, energy, waste and sewage treatment.
It remains to be seen whether the development,
the first phase of which is due for completion by
2020, will have a demonstrable impact on land
use in the rest of the city, or exist mainly as a lux-
ury suburb.

Green initiatives: The Kenya Wildlife service in
partnership with private companies is managing
the Green Line Project, an initiative to plant for-
est along 30 km of the perimeter of Nairobi
National Park in the south of the city. The pro-
gramme began in 2010 with the planting of sev-
eral thousand trees, and organisers continue to
raise money from the private sector to plant
more trees and pay for patrolling the area. The
hope is to create a visible boundary between the
park and surrounding new developments, and
to discourage lobbying by developers to cut
slices off the park. The tree planting is also part

African Green City Index

Initially a railway outpost for the Mombasa-Kampala Railway, Nairobi is now home to
3.1 million people. It is one of Africa’s most
important cities and a major hub for finance,
media, technology and air travel. Its altitude of
well over 1,000 metres above sea level results in
a moderate climate, which means there is little
need for air conditioning or heating. The city
receives much of its energy from renewable
hydro power, but insufficient generation and
transmission infrastructure leads to the frequent
use of diesel-fuelled generators. Like other large
African cities, growth remains haphazard; the
management of waste, sewage and water are
urgent challenges. With Nairobi’s population
expected to more than double to 7 million by
2020, the city government and the Kenyan

national government are under increased pres-
sure to create a capital city that is more liveable,
safe and environmentally friendly.

Nairobi is below average overall in the
African Green City Index. It achieves an average
rank in four categories – land use, waste, water
and sanitation. Particular strengths in these
areas include good policies to protect existing
green spaces and other environmentally sensi-
tive areas, as well as a relatively robust code cov-
ering surface water quality. The city receives
below average rankings in energy and CO2,
transport, air quality and environmental gover-
nance. A wide range of challenges still confront
Nairobi, including a low level of access to elec-
tricity, and relatively weak policies covering pub-
lic transport and air pollution.

Energy and CO2: Below average
Although Nairobi generates 62% of its electrici-
ty from renewables, mostly hydro and some
geothermal power, poor generation and trans-
mission infrastructure often forces utilities to
rely on diesel-powered generators. An estimat-
ed 75% of households have access to electricity,
below the Index average of 84%, and black-
outs are common. The reliance on renewables
drives down Nairobi’s per capita CO2 emissions
to an estimated 182 kg, much less than the
Index average of 984 kg. Per capita electricity
consumption is almost on par with the Index
average, at an estimated 6.5 gigajoules per
person versus the Index average of 6.4 giga-
joules. Nairobi is also marked down for lacking
many of the energy policies evaluated in the Index.

relatively high percentage of people living in
informal settlements, at an estimated 50%,
compared with the Index average of 38%. In
2008 the national government unveiled Nairobi
Metro 2030, a blueprint for the capital city’s
urban development. The plan envisions rapid
yet environmentally sustainable development in
the metropolitan region, and already several
new initiatives are underway. The most ambi-
tious of these is a Russian-financed project
called Tatu City. Designed around the concept of
efficient urban development, plans call for Tatu
City to accommodate 62,000 residents while
preserving wetlands, forest areas and coffee
plantations on the property. City officials call it
“the prototype of the African city of the future”
and say it will be predominantly self-sufficient

of a wider initiative led by Nobel Prize winner
Wangari Mathai to plant new trees throughout
Nairobi to improve water catchment and bio-
diversity.

Transport: Below average
More than 90% of city commuters depend on
privately run, frequently over-crowded mini-
buses called matatus. City efforts to replace
matatus with public buses have had disappoint-
ing results, and the density of the public trans-
port network in the city is below the Index aver-
age, at an estimated 1.9 km per square kilo -
metre, compared with the average of 2.7 km
per square kilometre. The superior network
serving the city, consisting of suburban railways
built in the 1980s, measures 0.09 km per

well
below

average

below
average

average above
average

well
above

average

Performance

Energy and CO2

Land use

Transport

Waste

Water

Sanitation

Air quality

Environmental governance

Overall result

Nairobi Other cities

The order of the dots within the performance bands has no bearing on the cities’ results.


source, the Nairobi River, using support from the
United Nations Environment Programme, which
is headquartered in Nairobi. In addition, the
Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company has
increased the supply and quality of water in
recent years. Nevertheless, the city is likely to
face water shortages unless major capital invest-
ments are made into new reservoirs. At the
same time, piped water is currently somewhat
unreliable and expensive. An estimated 50% of
the system’s water is lost to leakages, well above
the Index average of 30%. Addressing these
issues effectively, and tackling a dropping water
table believed to be the result of unregulated
bore hole drilling, will be critical tasks for local
government officials in years to come.

Green initiatives: The Ngong, Mathare and
Nairobi rivers meet in Nairobi and flow from
there to the Indian Ocean. The three rivers are
clogged with waste and during rains the rivers
are thick with human excrement washed out of
informal settlements. The Nairobi River Basin
initiative, run by the Kenya Ministry of Environ-
ment, aims to recover the rivers, providing clear
flow through the city, and increasing land and
recreational value along the river bank. Initial
surveys have been completed. There is no dead-
line year to finish the entire project, but initiative
planners hope to have reclaimed city centre sec-
tions of the river before 2020. Some progress
has been made clearing the Nairobi River around
the municipal dump at Dandora in the east of
the city.

Sanitation: Average
An estimated 83% of the population has access
to sanitation, about equal to the Index average
of 84%. The city’s wastewater treatment plants
are unable to accommodate the total waste-

Environmental governance:
Below average
Nairobi has a dedicated environmental authori-
ty that oversees and implements environmental
policy, as well as some ability to implement
its own environmental legislation. In addition,
the city involves external stakeholders, such
as citizen groups and non-governmental
organi sations, to some extent in decision-mak-
ing for projects with major environmental
impact. For the fiscal year ending June 30th,
2010 Nairobi’s annual environmental budget
was about US$5.9 million, or roughly 5% of the
total annual city authority budget of US$107
million. Challenges remain, of course. New
development in Nairobi is supposed to be over-
seen by the National Environmental Manage-
ment Agency (NEMA). Some have been critical
of the agency’s effectiveness, but the agency
says it is moving forward with plans to better
enforce environmental laws. The city’s place-
ment in this category is hindered because it
does not appear to regularly monitor its envi-

ronmental performance and publish informa-
tion on its progress.

Green initiatives: Numerous new technology
initiatives are tracking Nairobi’s environmental
conditions. A new government online data por-
tal announced in July by President Mwai Kibaki
will allow Kenyans to identify spending on water
and energy, and to keep track of the state of the
hydropower dams that provide the city most of
its energy. A Climate Change Innovation Centre
funded by the World Bank and the Danish gov-
ernment aims to make Nairobi a centre of green
technology, creating 4,600 jobs within five
years. As the third capital of the United Nations,
after New York and Geneva, Nairobi is the world
headquarters of the organisation’s environmen-
tal and urban planning programmes. The UN
campus in Gigiri was overhauled in 2011 with
energy neutral offices. The new building for 1,200
employees includes 6,000 square metres of solar
panels. The UN says the energy savings should
pay for the investment within seven years.

82 83

square kilometre, just over the Index average of
0.07 km per square kilometre, although only an
estimated 19,000 commuters use the system
daily. Al though officials have discussed a rapid
rail system, no concrete plans have been imple-
mented. Nairobi’s efforts to implement an
advanced traffic-management system through
the application of traffic light sequencing and
to introduce some limited-vehicle zones are
positive steps.

Green initiatives: Nairobi is seeing major
investment in its road network. A ring road
planned since the 1970s will finally be built by
2012. Even more significant is an eight-lane
superhighway linking Nairobi to the neighbour-
ing town of Thika. This US$310 million project
looks likely to be finished by 2012. The project
will set new standards for Kenyan roads, and
includes underpasses and footpaths.

Waste: Average
Nairobi residents generate an estimated 318 kg
of waste annually, compared with the Index
average of 408 kg, although collection remains
limited to about 40% of the total waste generat-
ed. Collection consists mainly of private con-
tractors picking up, sorting and transporting
the trash to landfills outside the city. Because of
this, waste collection in the city is not a widely

available public service, but remains limited to
wealthier residents and businesses that can
afford to pay for it. There is some recycling of
electrical waste, glass, paper and plastics, but
this is also conducted by private waste-manage-
ment companies. The city government has
made several positive strides – it monitors a
portion of the industrial sector’s disposal of haz-
ardous waste, discourages the public from lit-
tering or dumping through the installation of
additional waste bins, and has established a
policy to reduce, recycle and re-use waste.
These public initiatives give reason for opti-
mism, even though it is not entirely clear how
strictly these standards and rules are enforced.
The city government also organises the sepa-
rate collection and disposal of medical and
chemical waste. Overall, however, waste man-
agement remains a significant environmental
challenge.

Water: Average
An estimated 93% of residents have access to
potable water, narrowly more than the Index
average of 91%. The city consumes an estimated
112 litres of water per person per day, less than
the Index average of 187 litres. Nairobi draws its
water supply from local rivers and reservoirs. It is
also in the middle of a major project to rehabili-
tate and conserve the city’s main surface water

Quantitative indicators

Category Indicator Average

ENERGY and CO2 Proportion of households with access to electricity (%) 84.2

Electricity consumption per capita (GJ/inhabitant) 6.4

CO2 emissions from electricity consumption per person (kg/person) 983.9

LAND USE Population density (persons/km2) 4,578.1

Population living in informal settlements (%) 38.0

Green spaces per person (m2/person) 73.6

TRANSPORT Length of mass transport network (km/km2) 2.7

Superior public transport network (km/km2) 0.07

WASTE Waste generated per person (kg/person/year) 407.8

WATER Population with access to potable water (%) 91.2

Water consumption per person (litres per person per day) 187.2

Water system leakages (%) 30.5

SANITATION Population with access to sanitation (%) 84.1

All data applies to Nairobi unless stated otherwise below. * Where data from different years were used only the year of the main indicator is listed. e = EIU Estimate. 1) National data used as proxy for city level data.
2) National electricity generation mix used to estimate city level CO2 data. 3) Number of bus routes (51) multiplied by average length of bus routes for other cities in the Index (26 km). 4) There are no subway, tram or BRT lines

Nairobi Year* Source

75.0 e 2010 University of Nairobi, Department of Urban and Regional Planning

6.5 1e 2008 International Energy Association

181.5 2e 2008 International Energy Association

4,509.0 2007 EIU calculation

50.0 e 2010 University of Nairobi, Department of Urban and Regional Planning

37.3 e 2009 UN Environmental Programme

1.9 3e 2009 Kenya Bus Service Management Ltd

0.09 4 2009 Kenya Railways Corporation

317.5 e 2008 City of Nairobi Environmental Outlook 2007

93.3 e 2003 UN Habitat

111.5 e 2005 City of Nairobi Environmental Outlook 2007

50.0 e 2007 City of Nairobi Environmental Outlook 2007

82.9 e 2003 UN Habitat

water generated each day in Nairobi. In informal
settlements access to toilets is limited, resulting
in the pollution of local streams. To combat
these issues, the Kenyan government adopted
the National Environmental Sanitation and
Hygiene Promotion Policy in 2007 to expand
access to and the quality of sanitation services
around the country. How much has been imple-
mented is still unclear.

Air quality: Below average
The main causes of air pollution in Nairobi are
idling cars in traffic jams and faecal dust from
informal settlements during dry months. It is
hoped that new limits on importing old cars that
do not meet emission standards will improve
conditions, though in the long term regulation
of vehicles running on leaded petrol, such as lor-
ries and buses, would likely yield more dramatic
results. The city lacks an air quality code and air
monitoring in Nairobi is conducted only on a lim-
ited, ad hoc basis, which negatively affects its
placement in this category.


84 85

Pretoria_South Africa

Background indicators
Total population (million) 2.3

Administrative area (km2) 2,200

Population density (persons/km2) 1,100

Energy and CO2: Below average
An estimated 78% of households have access to
electricity, less than the Index average of 84%.
However, the city has set a target to increase
this to 100% of households by April 2016.
Despite low access levels, the city consumes
12.0 gigajoules of electricity per person – near-
ly twice the Index average of 6.4 gigajoules. As
is the case for the other South African cities in
the Index, over 90% of Pretoria’s electricity is
generated using coal, while nuclear power gen-
erates about 5% and renewable energy in the
form of hydropower less than 2%. As a result,
the city emits an estimated 3,048 kg of CO2 per
person from electricity consumption, more
than three times the Index average of 984 kg.
Pretoria introduced an integrated environmen-
tal policy in January 2005, which aims to
diversify the energy supply, encourage energy
efficiency and promote cooperation between
government, business, labour, communities
and other stakeholders, among other goals. The
document says the city should discourage the
use of inefficient and high-polluting fuels,
although there are no specific action points.
The plan also calls for reducing energy con-
sumption in all municipal operations and imple-
menting “green procurement” policies based on
energy efficiency, but again no specific plans
are included in the document.

Green initiatives: During the past two years
the city has installed more than 12,000 solar
water heaters in a number of communities in
the metropolitan area through an investment
by the national Department of Energy. As well
as reducing energy consumption and associat-
ed emissions, the water heaters have no cost
apart from their initial installation and are pop-
ular among lower-income households. In a bid

to create jobs and tackle high levels of unem-
ployment, people in the target communities
have been trained to install the heaters them-
selves.

Land use: Average
The centre of Pretoria is not densely populated
and most of the people who work there com-
mute from nearby Johannesburg. Indeed, Preto-
ria is the least densely populated city in the
Index, with only 1,100 people per square kilo-
metre compared with the Index average of
4,600 people. An estimated 27% of the popula-
tion lives in informal settlements, below the
Index average of 38%. Like in many cities in
South Africa, Pretoria’s population is growing
rapidly, which has resulted in the appearance of
informal settlements. In recent years, though,
Pretoria has taken steps to redevelop these areas
and provide more access to municipal services,
including sanitation and electricity. Regarding
green space, the city’s development strategy
calls for investments in new parks as well as
proposing a number of sprawl-prevention poli-
cies. Already, Pretoria has 13 nature reserves
and ten bird sanctuaries, along with other recre-
ational nature areas. However, on a per capita
basis there are only an estimated 39 square
metres of green space per person compared
with the Index average of 74 square metres.

Green initiatives: The city is prioritising so-
called integrated land use, in which housing for
affluent residents is in close proximity to less
wealthy developments. This is an attempt to
address the legacy of Apartheid planning that
deliberately created black townships without
access to basic services on the peripheries of
cities. There are plans to formalise all informal
settlements (providing electricity and water

African Green City Index

Pretoria is South Africa’s administrative capi-tal, housing the government ministries, for-
eign embassies, and various academic and
research centres. The city centre is highly devel-
oped, with a mix of historical and modern build-
ings. Compared with other cities in the African
Green City Index, Pretoria has a relatively small
population of 2.3 million residents. It is over-
seen by an entity called the City of Tshwane,
which includes many different municipalities in
the Gauteng Province, and was expanded in
2011. Following the absorption of several addi-
tional municipalities, the City of Tshwane’s pop-
ulation rose to 2.5 million and its area grew from
2,200 square kilometres to just under 6,400
square kilometres (much of this additional area
is rural and undeveloped), but these newer fig-

ures were not included in the Index. Pretoria is
closely connected to Johannesburg, both geo-
graphically and economically. Situated approxi-
mately 50 km from Johannesburg, Pretoria’s
urban area is growing ever closer to its neigh-
bour, and housing developments are being con-
structed along the corridor that links the two.
Pretoria and Johannesburg are also connected
by a new commuter railway.

The city places average overall in the Index,
with some mixed results in the individual eight
categories: it achieves above average results in
the transport, air quality and environmental
governance categories. Pretoria boasts a trans-
port network more than double the Index aver-
age. It also has a relatively strong environmental
department and a comparatively high level of

public participation in projects with environ-
mental impact. Pretoria is average for land use
and water. Although the city has introduced
water quality standards, some residents are still
without access to potable water. Officials are
also working to improve overall environmental
conditions in informal settlements. Pretoria’s
performances in the categories of energy and
CO2 and sanitation are below average, driven by
high levels of CO2emissions from electricity con-
sumption – electricity for the city is mainly pro-
duced from coal – and relatively low levels of
access to sanitation. The city is well below aver-
age in the waste category, due mainly to gener-
ating the most waste per capita in the Index.
There is nevertheless a variety of notable green
initiatives underway in the city.

well
below

average

below
average

average above
average

well
above

average

Performance

Energy and CO2

Land use

Transport

Waste

Water

Sanitation

Air quality

Environmental governance

Overall result

Pretoria Other cities

The order of the dots within the performance bands has no bearing on the cities’ results.


Quantitative indicators

Category Indicator Average

ENERGY and CO2 Proportion of households with access to electricity (%) 84.2

Electricity consumption per capita (GJ/inhabitant) 6.4

CO2 emissions from electricity consumption per person (kg/person) 983.9

LAND USE Population density (persons/km2) 4,578.1

Population living in informal settlements (%) 38.0

Green spaces per person (m2/person) 73.6

TRANSPORT Length of mass transport network (km/km2) 2.7

Superior public transport network (km/km2) 0.07

WASTE Waste generated per person (kg/person/year) 407.8

WATER Population with access to potable water (%) 91.2

Water consumption per person (litres per person per day) 187.2

Water system leakages (%) 30.5

SANITATION Population with access to sanitation (%) 84.1

supplies, tarring roads and replacing shacks with
brick houses) by the end of 2016, and deliver
more services to less developed townships.

Transport: Above average
Pretoria’s public transport network, consisting
mainly of buses and commuter trains linking it
to Johannesburg, measures 6.4 km per square
kilometre, more than double the Index average
of 2.7 km. However, despite the network’s wide
coverage, as in the rest of South Africa, private
automobiles remain the primary form of trans-
portation for those who can afford them. The
arteries around the city centre are regularly
clogged by high volumes of commuter traffic
travelling to the various government offices in
Pretoria. According to a 2008 city household sur-
vey, most respondents expressed concern about
their personal safety while using buses, due to a
high number of traffic accidents on the roads
between Pretoria and Johannesburg.

Green initiatives: The city has plans to com-
pletely revamp its public transport system and is
currently developing an integrated rapid public
transport network (IRPTN). At the heart of this
will be a bus rapid transit (BRT) system, which
will run along dedicated lanes through the city
to avoid congestion and have sealed stations to
create safety. However, as of December 2010
the BRT had been put on hold due to concerns
about the feasibility of the design. Through the
IRPTN the city also plans to assess ways to reduce
traffic congestion and connect different forms
of public transport. In another initiative, the Gau -
train, a high-speed line linking Pretoria to down-
town Johannesburg, is already operational,
although construction continues on one final
station. The new service offers a long-awaited

alternative to driving between the cities and will
greatly reduce the amount of traffic in central
Pretoria. The system also includes buses linking
Gautrain stations to locations in the city centre.

Waste: Well below average
The city’s result in this category is due to a high
level of waste generation, at 1,070 kg per per-
son per year. This is the highest rate in the Index
and well above the average of 408 kg. However,
all of the South African cities in the Index gener-
ate relatively high levels of waste. The city has a
waste management division responsible for col-
lection, transportation, treatment and disposal.
In light of the high level of waste generated, the
city could improve its waste management and
recycling policies. There is an informal sector of
an estimated 6,000 waste collectors who sift
through bins and collect items they can sell to
recycling firms but the city lacks regulations for
this group. Pretoria also lacks standards govern-
ing disposal of industrial hazardous waste, but
the city does provide for recycling of glass, paper
and cardboard.

Water: Average
An estimated 97% of Pretoria residents have
access to potable water, compared with the
Index average of 91%. Additionally, Pretoria has
implemented a water quality policy and stan-
dards for the level of pollutants in surface and
drinking water. It also boasts the second lowest
leakage rate in the Index, at 18%, compared
with the Index average of 30%. The city is work-
ing to improve further, however. To meet its
stated goal of providing potable water for all
residents by April 2016, the city is investing
US$35 million to upgrade the water system,
although few details are available about what

this programme entails. Pretoria consumes
320 litres of water per person per day, above
the Index average of 187 litres. The city’s envi-
ronmental policy includes a goal to reduce
water consumption.

Green initiatives: Aside from the investments in
its water system, the city is raising public aware-
ness around water efficiency. The Water-Wise
section on its website offers tips on how to save
water in the home, including encouraging home-
owners to turn taps off whenever possible and
take quick showers, and asking residents to use
indigenous plants in their gardens, since they
tend to use less water than non-indigenous breeds.

Sanitation: Below average
Just over three-quarters of the population has
access to sanitation, below the Index average of
84%. The city originally had a target to provide free
basic sanitation for all residents by December
2010. Because that target was not met due to a
lack of funding, the city set a new deadline of
December 2016. The city has allocated US$55 mil-
lion to tackle this issue and invest in overall refur-
bishment of the infrastructure, but details are
vague. Pretoria has minimum standards for treat-
ment of wastewater and regularly monitors treat-
ment, but it does not monitor on-site sanitation
treatment facilities (such as those found in homes
or communal areas), nor does it publicly promote
cleanliness when using sanitation facilities.

Air quality: Above average
The city’s strong performance in this category is
a reflection of a robust set of policies to ensure
local ambient air quality. The national Depart-
ment of Environmental Affairs’ weather service
regularly monitors air quality and publishes results

online. Several monitoring stations around the
municipality test for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen
dioxide, suspended particulate matter, suspend-
ed fine particulate matter and carbon monoxide.

Green initiatives: The city has an Air Quality
Management Plan (AQMP) that aims to mini -
mise the negative impact of air pollution on peo-
ple’s health and wellbeing, and on the environ-
ment. Reducing domestic fuel burning, such as
the burning of charcoal in informal settlements,
is also a key priority stated in the AQMP.

Environmental governance:
Above average
The city has a dedicated agriculture and environ-

mental management department under which
fall two environmentally related divisions: envi-
ronmental management and waste manage-
ment. The environmental management depart-
ment is responsible for all environmental policy
and information, management systems, audit
and promotion, as well as the day-to-day run-
ning of parks, cemeteries, urban forestry, strate-
gic open place planning, air quality, climate change
and sustainable energy policies. The waste de -
partment manages waste collection and recy-
cling. In 2001 the city published a State of the
Environment Report, which was followed in
2005 by the integrated environment policy men -
tioned above. Additional environmental indica-
tors and planning were covered in the April

86 87

2011 Integrated Development Plan. There is also
a provincial-level Gauteng State of the Environ-
ment Report, which was published in 2004. The
city has a public participation process in place for
projects with an environmental impact.

Green initiatives: Since 2003 the city has been
running its Sustainable Energy and Climate
Change programme, which aims to “encourage
the integration of sustainable energy and envi-
ronment concerns into urban development in
South Africa”. All departments are required to
make sustainable energy objectives part of their
activities and functions, although few specific
details are available about how this policy has
been implemented.

All data applies to Pretoria unless stated otherwise below. * Where data from different years were used only the year of the main indicator is listed. e = EIU Estimate. 1) City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. 2) Number of bus
routes (545) multiplied by average length of bus routes in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg (26 km). 3) There are no subway, tram or light rail lines

Pretoria Year* Source

78.0e 2010 National Department of Cooperative Governance and
Traditional Affairs

12.01 2005 State of Energy Report 2006

3,047.61e 2005 State of Energy Report 2006

1,066.3 2007 EIU calculation

26.81e 2007 Community Survey 2007

39.21e 2005 2005 Report – Proposed Tshwane open space framework

6.42 2010 Tshwane Bus Service

0.043 2010 Sapromo Magazine, Pretoria

1,070.01 2005 Tshwane environment education and awareness strategy –
appendix to report 2005

97.21e 2007 Community Survey 2007

319.71 2008 Miyawater

18.01e 2009 Department of Water Affairs – 2009 Water Services
Development Plan

76.31e 2007 Community Survey 2007


88 89

Tunis_Tunisia

Background indicators
Total population (million) 1.0

Administrative area (km2) e 200

Population density (persons/km2) 4,700

electricity consumption, compared with the
Index average of 984 kg. Most of the city’s elec-
tricity is generated using natural gas, with little
renewable power in the mix, but solar produc-
tion has been increasing in recent years (see
“green initiatives” below).

Green initiatives: In 2005 the government
adopted a programme to promote solar energy,
PROSOL. The programme is a joint initiative of
the government-run National Agency for Energy
Conservation, the state power company Société
Tunisienne de l’Electricité et de Gas (STEG), the
UN Environment Programme and the Italian
environment ministry. The scheme includes
loans and subsidies to offset the cost of solar
water heaters. More than 50,000 families bene-
fited in the first two years of the programme,
saving an estimated 240,000 tonnes of CO2
emissions. Ultimately, through a series of related

metres. The exception is the 100-hectare
Belvedere Park, known as the “lungs” of the city.
Many of the city’s poorer residents live in crum-
bling buildings in the city centre, but one partic-
ularly active non-governmental organisation
has been leading a revitalisation of these neigh-
bourhoods (see “green initiatives” below).

Green initiatives: Over several decades the
Association de Sauvegarde de la Médina de
Tunis (ASM), a non-governmental organisation,
has been responsible for a series of rehabilita-
tion projects in the historic city centre. The ASM
programme, supported by organisations such as
the World Bank, has reversed the creeping disre-
pair of the old city by upgrading electricity con-
nections and street lights, restoring monu-
ments, clearing waste from the streets and
creating pedestrian areas. Under one of ASM’s
initiatives, Project Oukalas, three new neigh -

African Green City Index

Tunis is the capital of Tunisia. It is the smallestcity in the African Green City Index in terms
of population, with only 1 million residents,
though the greater metropolitan area is home to
roughly 2.4 million. With an administrative area
estimated at just 200 square kilometres, Tunis is
also the second smallest city by area in the
Index, just marginally larger than Accra. Com-
pared with other major cities in North Africa, the
city is relatively well managed and prosperous,
and benefits from a tourist industry that brings
visitors to Tunisia’s beaches and historic sites.
The overturning of the previous national gov-
ernment in January 2011 and the installation of
an interim regime means that environmental
governance, like much else in Tunisia, is current-
ly in a state of flux. However, the new govern-

ment will have an opportunity to build on sever-
al existing environmental strengths in its capital
city.

Tunis ranks above average overall in the
Index, and is above average in the individual cat-
egories of transport, waste, sanitation and air
quality. The city has the longest superior mass
transit network in the Index, with a well-devel-
oped system of light rail and suburban trains.
Tunis ranks average for land use, water and envi-
ronmental governance. Sprawl is an ongoing
issue, but the city is emphasising pedestrian-
friendly development and increasing green
spaces. Likewise, Tunis currently faces water
supply and wastewater discharge issues, but
improving water infrastructure has been a top
priority in recent years. The city falls below aver-

age for energy and CO2 due to relatively high
CO2 emissions and electricity consumption.
However, recent investments in solar power
could bolster its performance in this category.

Energy and CO2: Below average
Tunis has the highest electricity consumption
per capita in the Index, at 18.1 gigajoules per
capita, almost three times the Index average of
6.4 gigajoules. A major driver of this high con-
sumption has been the government’s push in
recent years to continually expand access to the
grid. An estimated 99% of households have
access to electricity, exceeding the Index aver-
age of 84%. Air conditioning in the summer also
drives up Tunis’s electricity demand. Tunis emits
an estimated 1,044 kg of CO2 per capita from

e = EIU Estimate

well
below

average

below
average

average above
average

well
above

average

Performance

Energy and CO2

Land use

Transport

Waste

Water

Sanitation

Air quality

Environmental governance

Overall result

Tunis Other cities

The order of the dots within the performance bands has no bearing on the cities’ results.

initiatives, the national government wants to
increase its renewables from 0.5% of production
to 10% by 2020. In addition, the World Bank has
financed a programme to examine how Tunis
and the rest of the region can adapt infrastruc-
ture for the potential effects of climate change,
such as increased coastal erosion or natural dis-
asters such as extreme storms and flooding.

Land use: Average
Tunis performs well for its relatively high popula-
tion density, at an estimated 4,700 people per
square kilometre, versus the Index average of
4,600. However, this also leads to a relative lack
of green space. The city only offers an estimated
15 square metres of green space per person,
well below the Index average of 74 square

bourhoods were built to accommodate some
1,300 households who had been forced to move
because their former homes were dilapidated.
The residents were provided with 25-year rent-
purchase plans with low monthly repayments.
The demolished buildings were then replaced
with newer accommodations. In another
US$19.5 million project, carried out between
1994 and 2007, the ASM led the restructuring of
public spaces on two avenues, making them
chiefly pedestrian. The organisation also listed
and restored landmarks, including the Tunis
municipal theatre and the central market.

Transport: Above average
Tunis residents have the choice of bus, light rail
and suburban rail services. The city’s light rail


Quantitative indicators

Category Indicator Average

ENERGY and CO2 Proportion of households with access to electricity (%) 84.2

Electricity consumption per capita (GJ/inhabitant) 6.4

CO2 emissions from electricity consumption per person (kg/person) 983.9

LAND USE Population density (persons/km2) 4,578.1

Population living in informal settlements (%) 38.0

Green spaces per person (m2/person) 73.6

TRANSPORT Length of mass transport network (km/km2) 2.7

Superior public transport network (km/km2) 0.07

WASTE Waste generated per person (kg/person/year) 407.8

WATER Population with access to potable water (%) 91.2

Water consumption per person (litres per person per day) 187.2

Water system leakages (%) 30.5

SANITATION Population with access to sanitation (%) 84.1

Green initiatives: The city is investing US$2 bil-
lion in public transport network improvements. In
November 2008 Tunis completed a 6.8 km exten-
sion to the light rail network in the south of the
city and in December 2009 a 5.3 km western
extension. Two further extensions are under way.
An additional suburban network is planned by
2016. The city also plans to introduce 14 new bus
corridors totalling 90 km.

Waste: Above average
On a per capita basis, Tunis generates an esti-
mated 173 kg of waste annually, compared
with the Index average of 408 kg. This is one of
the lowest rates in the Index and the main dri-
ver of the city’s performance in this category.
The government adopted a ten-year strategic
framework for waste management in 1995
known as PRONAGDES. It was designed to pro-
mote reuse and recycling, as well as reduce
waste generation and improve cost manage-
ment. The PRONAGDES waste management
framework was followed by a second pro-
gramme covering the 2007-16 period and

unauthorised dumps and increasing treatment
rates of industrial and special waste to 70%.

Water: Average
Water resources in Tunis are limited because of
the arid climate. Despite this, residents consume
an average of 299 litres of water per person per
day, which is well above the Index average of
187 litres. It is estimated that nearly 100% of the
population has access to potable water, above
the Index average of 91% and the second high-
est rate in the Index. Tunis’s water system leak-
ages, at 28%, are slightly lower than the Index
average of 30%. Several international agencies,
including the World Bank, the French Develop-
ment Bank and the African Development Bank,
have invested and loaned large sums in recent
years to upgrade infrastructure and manage-
ment practices (see “green initiatives”). In large
part these investments have paid off in terms of
greater water access for residents and a more
efficient water system. The city has relatively
strong policies, including regular monitoring of
surface water quality, a water quality strategy

90 91

system, known as the Métro Léger de Tunis,
opened in 1985 and carries more than 460,000
passengers per day. Tunis has the longest superior
transport network (defined as light rail, subur-
ban trains, bus rapid transit or metro) in the
Index, at 0.27 km per square kilometre, versus
the Index average of 0.07 km. The light rail sys-
tem is integrated with other forms of public
transport, linking to suburban lines at the Tunis
Marine station and to the Tunisian state rail ser-
vice at Place Barcelone. As part of a comprehen-
sive urban mass transport policy, the city has
been working on plans to extend both the light
rail and suburban railway systems. Tunis
receives full marks for encouraging citizens to
take greener forms of transport, and many resi-
dents walk to and from work in the pedestrian-
friendly historic centre.

known as the Programme National de Gestion
Intégrée et Durable des Déchets (PRONGIDD,
see “green initiatives” below).

Green initiatives: PRONGIDD focuses on opti-
mising the financing, collection, transport and
recycling of waste, and on promoting private sec-
tor involvement and cooperation between com-
munities. The nationwide programme contains a
series of key targets, including reducing waste
generation by 20% by changing consumption
patterns, increasing composting levels by 15%
and household-waste recycling by 20% and
ensuring 100% of municipalities have access to
waste transfer stations and landfill facilities. Addi-
tionally the framework calls for: raising private-
sector participation in waste collection and infra-
structure development to 30%, closing 70% of

and a policy aimed at conservation. These poli-
cies have also received input from Tunisia’s inter-
national partners.

Green initiatives: In 2005 the World Bank
approved a loan of US$38 million to the state-
owned water company to upgrade water infra-
structure in Greater Tunis and other urban cen-
tres. The project, which is set to finish in 2012,
has two components: The first entails upgrading
water infrastructure to improve delivery capaci-
ty, and the second focuses on upgrading man-
agement systems, including information sys-
tems, planning, cost control and customer-
service procedures.

Sanitation: Above average
The city’s performance in this category is driven

By 2002 five fixed stations had been established,
including three in Greater Tunis at Bab Alioua,
Manouba and Ghazela. A total of 15 stations
have now been completed nationally, nine of
which are located in Greater Tunis in Bab Saâ-
doun, El Mourouj, Ariana, El Nahli, Ben Arous and
Radès. The government plans to extend the net-
work to a total of 25 stations by the end of 2011.

Environmental governance: Average
The city’s environmental policy is managed by
the national ministry of environment, with dif-
ferent state-owned agencies carrying out specif-
ic policies in different areas. The overturning of
the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January
2011 and the replacement of the government
by an interim regime means that environmental
governance is currently in a state of flux.

Green initiatives: The Tunis International Cen-
ter for Environmental Technologies (CITET), a
national agency, was created in 1996 to develop
qualifications for better mastery of environmen-
tal technologies to ensure sustainable develop-
ment in Tunisia as well as the Arab and Medi-
terranean region. The organisation promotes
environmental issues in the private sector, offers
training and distance learning programmes to
raise awareness about the environment, and
helps companies comply with international en -
vironmental standards. The National Agency for
Energy Conservation (ANME), established in
1985, aims at improving the level of energy
efficiency and diversifying energy sources
around Tunisia. In addition, the Association de
Sauvegarde de la Médina de Tunis (ASM) serves
as a meeting point and research centre on
urban, architectural and socio-economic aspects
of the old centre of Tunis.

All data applies to Tunis unless stated otherwise below. * Where data from different years were used only the year of the main indicator is listed. e = EIU Estimate. 1) National data used as proxy for city data. 2) Tunis district.
3) National electricity generation mix used to estimate city level CO2 data. 4) Greater Tunis. 5) There are no subway, tram or BRT lines

Tunis Year* Source

99.01e 2010 Goliath Business Knowledge

18.12 2008 Annuaire Statistique de la Tunisie 2008

1,044.13e 2008 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories

4,698.1 2009 EIU calculation

25.0e 2001 Tunis City Development Strategy Report 2001

14.5e 2004 l’Institut National de la Statistique

2.34 2008 Sociéte du Métro léger de Tunis

0.272, 5 2008 Sociéte du Métro léger de Tunis

172.51e 2002 Mediterranean Environmental Technical Assistance
Program Report 2002

99.7e 2009 Société Nationale d’Exploitation et de Distibution des Eaux

299.3 2008 Ministry of Environment

28.4 2008 Ministry of Environment

95.0e 2009 Office National de l’Assainissement

by a high rate of access and strong policies rela-
tive to the other cities in the Index. An estimated
95% of the population has access to sanitation,
well above the Index average of 84%. Regarding
policies, the city is covered by a sanitation code,
has wastewater treatment standards, and moni-
tors on-site treatment facilities in homes and
communal areas. As in the water category,
many international agencies have extended
loans and financial assistance to upgrade waste-
water treatment and sewage networks in
Greater Tunis and the rest of the country in
recent years (see “green initiatives” below).

Green initiatives: In 2006 the European Invest -
ment Bank invested US$121 million to upgrade
sewerage networks in Greater Tunis and several
other towns in the country, and to construct
new wastewater treatment plants. Also, the
French Development Agency is financing a pro-
gramme to expand and rehabilitate 19 water
treatment stations and 130 pumping stations
throughout Tunisia. Additionally, the govern-
ment is prioritising the local eco-system. With

assistance from the World Bank and other inter-
national organisations, it has introduced a plan
to increase the use of treated wastewater for
agriculture rather than discharging it into the
gulf of Tunis.

Air quality: Above average
Tunis city officials conduct regular air quality
monitoring in locations around the city and
inform citizens about air pollution. The air quali-
ty in Tunis is better overall than in other major
urban centres in North Africa. Compared with
cities in Egypt and Morocco, Tunis’s roadways
have less congestion, though pollution from
traffic and industry is still a significant problem.
On a national level, energy generation con-
tributes 31% of the country’s air pollution and
transport contributes 30%.

Green initiatives: The government has imple-
mented a national plan to survey air quality. The
plan foresees the installation of a network of
fixed stations and the use of mobile laboratories
to monitor and control the sources of pollution.


Publisher: Siemens AG
Corporate Communications and Government Affairs
Wittelsbacherplatz 2, 80333 München
For the publisher: Stefan Denig
stefan.denig@siemens.com
Project management: Karen Stelzner
karen.stelzner@siemens.com
Contact Siemens Africa: Jose Machado
josemachado@siemens.com

Economist Intelligence Unit project manager: Emily Jackson, Frankfurt
Editorial office: Jason Sumner, Vanessa Barchfield, Economist Intelligence Unit,
London and Vienna
Research: Harald Langer, John McNamara, Economist Intelligence Unit, London

Picture editing: Stephanie Rahn, Publicis Publishing, München
Layout: Rigobert Ratschke, Seufferle Mediendesign GmbH, Stuttgart
Graphics: Jochen Haller, Seufferle Mediendesign GmbH, Stuttgart
Printing: BechtleDruck&Service, Zeppelinstraße 116, 73730 Esslingen

Photography: Pius Utomi Ekpei (Lagos), Zacharias Garcia (Alexandria, Cairo, Casablanca,
Tunis), Sala Lewis (Dar es Salaam), Kostadin Luchansky (Luanda), Martin Steffen (Accra),
Sven Torfinn (Addis Ababa, Nairobi), Kevin Wright (Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg,
Maputo, Pretoria)

Photo credits: Whilst every effort has been made to identify the owners of copyrights,
it can't be avoided that some copyright may be missing. In such a case and after checking
proof of ownership, an appropriate fee will be paid.

Any exploitation and usage which is not explicitly allowed by copyright law, in particular
reproduction, translation, storage in electronic database, on the internet and copying onto
CD-ROMs of this print work requires prior consent of the publisher.

Whilst every effort has been taken to verify the accuracy of this information,
neither Siemens AG, The Economist Intelligence Unit Ltd. nor its affiliates can accept
any responsibility or liability for reliance by any person on this information.

Munich, Germany, 2011

© 2011 by Siemens AG. All rights reserved.

Order no.: A19100-F-P185-X-7600

www.siemens.com/greencityindex


Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19
Page 20
Page 21
Page 22
Page 23
Page 24
Page 25
Page 26
Page 27
Page 28
Page 29
Page 30
Page 31
Page 32
Page 33
Page 34
Page 35
Page 36
Page 37
Page 38
Page 39
Page 40
Page 41
Page 42
Page 43
Page 44
Page 45
Page 46
Page 47


ee


FREEDOM AND JUSTICE


eee
aeragumess| (/
aad


oF wes
aa

Harbour


{ |


rm yO

Hy


tte

open
,

=

at

——s
=r

=

etcet

=
ao


THE UNION