When you think of sustainability, is Illinois your first answer? As American cities continue to take steps toward sustainable living, 443 cities across the U.S. have claimed clean city coalitions which is part of the Illinois Alliance for Clean Transportation.
LawnStarter recently ranked 500 cities across the states for its annual Most Sustainable Cities study.
Here’s a look at the results.
To reach the rankings for best to worst sustainability scores across the 50 states, LawnStarter, a lawn care company which connects lawn care to customers, used five sustainability categories to measure city sustainability.
Each category had several metrics weighed from heaviest (3 points) to lightest (1 point) based on importance.
500 cities in the U.S. were assessed with the data and were then given a calculated score out of 100 points to determine overall sustainability. The best city would be listed at the top as number one, while the worst ranks at 500
The most sustainable city in Illinois is Chicago, according to the report. The city’s number of policies support renewable energy efforts puts it at rank one, with 33.9% of workers using public transit or biking to work creating less pollution compared to other cities on the list.
Larger cities have access to the best infrastructure for green lifestyles because of the population and funding from climate-friendly policies to transportation hubs; yet at the same time, mega-populated cities tend to be the most polluted, according to the report.
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In 2023, renewable energy sourced 30% of all global electricity according to EcoBusiness.com; and by 2050 the U.N. predicts two-thirds of people will live in urban developed areas, meaning cities tackling pollution early will cut down on fossil fuel usage later down the line and meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s annual Sustainability Plan of 100% carbon pollution-free electricity by 2030.
Claire Grant writes about business, growth and development and other news topics for the State Journal-Register. She can be reached at CLGrant@gannett.com; and on X (Formerly known as Twitter): @Claire_Granted