Johannesburg, 17 Nov 2011
Johannesburg has the lowest electricity consumption and CO2 emissions among South African cities.
This was revealed by the Siemens Green City Index, which will be fully released in December. It assesses more than 100 cities worldwide.
Contributing editor of the Economist Intelligence Unit Paul Kielstra says Johannesburg performed above average overall and never went below average for any of the indicators. This is in the context of the African Green City Index (AGCI).
The AGCI includes 15 cities from 11 countries in Africa. It considers sanitation, transport, waste, water, air quality, environmental governance, energy and CO2, and land use.
The data is collected primarily from publicly available sources and generally for the years 2009 and 2010 where possible.
10 million trees
Johannesburg's overall performance is above average. It performs above average for all indicators, except waste, water and sanitation.
Kielstra says although Johannesburg has strong policies and environmental governance, there are challenges regarding quantitative indicators.
“As cities get richer, they use more and then a tipping point is reached where they start cutting down again. Johannesburg is moving up on the curve. It would be excellent if African cities would leapfrog this stage.”
The city has the lowest CO2 emissions among South African cities, but is high compared to the global index average. It also has the lowest electricity consumption among South African cities.
It has more than 10 million trees and the second highest amount of green space in the index.
Johannesburg also has the third longest public transport network in the index.
Recycle please
The city's challenges include that more than 90% of its electricity is generated from coal.
There are frequent traffic jams and a heavy reliance on private vehicles, the city has the second highest water consumption in the Index at 349 litres/person/day versus the average of 187, and less than 5% of waste is recycled.
The best green initiatives in the city include the Rea Vaya bus rapid transit (BRT) system, and the waste-to-electricity project for alternative energy.
Executive mayor of Johannesburg Parks Tau says the BRT programme reduces traffic and very strict standards have been imposed for cleaner fuel solutions.
He adds that the alternative energy solution has been successful as a pilot and is being monitored for rollout to the entire city.
Green work
Siemens aims to create 500 new green jobs in Africa. It says it is gearing up for growth in the new fiscal year in the emerging markets like Africa.
“Siemens will increasingly look to rapidly growing economies like Africa to meet our growth targets. Creating local green jobs will enable us to meet the growing demand for eco-friendly products and services throughout Africa,” says president and CEO of Siemens AG Peter L"oscher.
By 2012, the company wants to triple new orders in Africa from their 2009 levels to EUR3 billion.
In order to expand its business in Africa, Siemens is investing EUR200 million into building partnerships with African companies over two years.
Share