You could say we’re halfway to sustainable, at least in a worldview.

Arcadis, a global design & consulting firm, released the Sustainable Cities Index, a report ranking 50 of the world’s largest cities on how well they can juggle the 3 P’s: People, Planet & Profit. (Green geeks often refer to this as “Triple Bottom Line”.)

Philly: #22 of Sustainable Cities Index

Philly was ranked #22 in the world, or 6th in the North American category. (For the record, the top North American city was Toronto, coming in at #12.) Although we didn’t break the top 20, there’s room to grow!

Arcadis considered “Planet”, or environmental performance, focusing on “resource consumption, resource disposal and risk of exposure to natural catastrophes, for all the cities. Unfortunately, Philly wasn’t spoken of too kindly in this regard:

“Generally, the US cities fare worse on this metric than on the others. For example, Chicago, Philadelphia and especially Los Angeles are all energy-hungry cities which use a low proportion of renewable energy. The energy use and renewables indicator measures consumption per person and the proportion of energy in the country’s mix that comes from sources other than fossil fuels.”

We def acknowledge that we have green room to grow, but our city definitely has potential. Just another reason to stop this silly natural gas Energy Hub idea.

Find out more info on EcoWatch or the full sustainable cities index white paper.

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Julie Hancher is the co-founder and Executive Director of Green Philly, an independent media organization making sustainability accessible, affordable and actionable. Since launching Green Philly in 2008, she has grown it from a passion project into a leading voice for local climate storytelling, pairing impactful journalism with community events and experiences. Julie is a frequent speaker on climate, media innovation and the future of local journalism, and is the creator of SustainPHL and EcoFair. Outside of Green Philly, you can find her hiking, biking, traveling, or exploring Philadelphia. View all posts by Julie Hancher