Filters
CATEGORIES
INDICATORS
Breakdown ? How much the city's performance in Circular Buildings, Systems, Living and Leadership contributed to its overall score.
Methodology
The Circular Cities Barometer scores cities based on the circularity of their buildings, systems, living and leadership.
Circular Buildings
With buildings generating nearly 40% of annual global CO2 emissions, according to the International Energy Agency, circular cities require circular construction.
Energy Efficiency
The intensity of energy use of a city's buildings.
Construction and Demolition Waste
How committed a city is to reducing and recycling construction and demolition waste.
Building Certifications
How many of a city's buildings are certified as green.
Circular Systems
The U.S. recycling industry alone processes more than 130 million tons of recyclables each year, according to the Bureau of International Recycling.
Solid Waste Recycling
How much of a city's solid waste is diverted from landfills and incineration.
Renewable Energy Consumption
How much of a city's energy is sourced from renewables.
Water Recycling
How much of a city's wastewater is safely treated.
Circular Living
The amenities of urban life will attract 6.5 billion people - or 68% of the world's population - by 2050, up from the 4 billion who live in cities today, according to the United Nations.
Green Space
How much of a city is covered by trees and greenery.
Transport
How much of a city is within walking distance of public transit.
Sharing Economy
How many bike-, e-bike- and scooter-sharing programs exist in a city.
Circular Leadership
More than 1,000 cities worldwide have committed to reaching net zero by 2050.
Circular Procurement
Whether a city has taken circular procurement measures.
Policies and Roadmaps
How many commitments and achievements a city has made in the transition to a circular economy.
Investment
A city's financial incentives to adopt renewable energy for transport and buildings.
Methodology
1. Overview
The Circular Cities Barometer demonstrates how fast 30 global cities are transitioning from a linear economy—taking, making and wasting—to a circular economy of recycling, reducing and repairing.
Each city was scored based on its performance on 12 indicators of circularity, organized within four categories. Indicators and categories were weighted, as described below, to reflect their importance and the quality and quantity of data available.
2. City Selection
The 30 cities were selected from among the nearly 100 cities whose mayors participate in C40, a global network collaborating to address the climate crisis, as well as the cities whose mayors have made a formal commitment to the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy. C40 operates on performance-based requirements that set minimum standards of climate action that must be met for membership. C40 is funded in part by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charitable organization of Michael R. Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP.
Cities were selected so that all global regions were represented, and to ensure that representative data was available.
3. Data Collection
We gathered data from secondary sources that were available through August 2023. For some indicators, a single data point was used, while for others, a tally of several data points was used. Whenever possible, we used a single source of data for each indicator, but some cities required the use of alternative data sources, such as estimates or national figures, noted below.
4. Data Sources
Circular Buildings
Energy Efficiency: Each city was scored on a scale of 1-6, depending on how many of the following commitments it has made:
- CDP building energy efficiency ratings
- CDP building performance and ratings
- CDP new building standards
- CDP efficiency and/or retrofit projects
- Global Covenant of Mayors emissions data
- UN Climate Change Global Climate Action zero-carbon buildings
Construction and Demolition Waste: Each city was scored based on which of the following commitments it has made
- Good: Stated policy on building and/or construction waste
- Better: Commitment to a waste standard aligned with the Green Building Council
- Best: Disclosure of construction and demolition waste tonnage at the city level
Building Certifications: The number of buildings (existing or under construction) that were either Gold or Platinum LEED-certified or BREEAM-certified. Data for Seattle was supplemented by the Green Building Information Gateway.
Circular Systems
Solid Waste Recycling: The percentage of municipal solid waste diverted from landfills or incineration was sourced from the United Nations. Data for Auckland, Lagos, Warsaw and Zurich was based on national figures from the Environmental Performance Index. Data for Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid and Vienna was based on national figures from Eurostat. Data for Beijing, Chicago, Johannesburg, Montreal, New York, Seattle and Sydney was sourced from periodicals. Data for Buenos Aires, Washington, D.C. and Wuhan was estimated based on information sourced from periodicals.
Renewable Energy Consumption: The percentage of annual energy from renewable sources was sourced from REN21, a global renewable energy community of representatives from science, governments, NGOs and industry. Data for Washington, D.C. was sourced from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Data for Nairobi was sourced from periodicals. Data for Beijing, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Vienna and Wuhan was based on national figures sourced from periodicals.
Water Recycling: The percentage of wastewater that’s safely treated was sourced from the Urban Environment & Social Inclusion (UESI) Index. Data for Auckland, Brussels, Lagos, Madrid, Quezon City, Sydney, Vienna, Warsaw, and Zurich was based on national figures from the Environmental Performance Index. Data for Bogota was sourced from the World Bank. Data for Buenos Aires was sourced from UNESCO. Data for Milan was sourced from digital-water.city. Data for Nairobi was sourced from nairobiwater.co.ke. Data for Seattle was sourced from seattle.gov/utilities/your-services/water/water-system. Data for Washington, D.C. was estimated based on dcwater.com/blue-plains. Data for Wuhan was estimated based on information sourced from periodicals.
Circular Living
Green Space: The percentage of city land defined as tree cover was sourced from the Urban Environment & Social Inclusion (UESI) Index. Data for Washington, D.C. was sourced from the District Department of Transportation. Data for Auckland, Dubai and Johannesburg was sourced from periodicals.
Transport: How much of a city is within walking distance of public transit–the definition of Public Transportation Coverage–was sourced from the Urban Environment & Social Inclusion (UESI) Index. Data for Auckland, Dubai and Washington, D.C. was sourced from periodicals.
Sharing Economy: The number of bike-, e-bike and scooter-sharing programs was sourced from the New Urban Mobility Alliance (NUMO). Data for Auckland, Beijing, Berlin, Bogota, Buenos Aires, Dubai, Johannesburg, Lagos, Montreal, Nairobi, Quezon City, Sydney and Wuhan was sourced from periodicals.
Circular Leadership
Circular Procurement: What kind of circular procurement measures a city has taken was sourced from the CDP and ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability. Data for Amsterdam was sourced from government.nl. Data for Berlin was sourced from sdg21.eu. Data for Copenhagen was sourced from the Copenhagen Business School. Data for Dubai was sourced from u.ae. Data for New York was sourced from ogs.ny.gov. Data for Seattle was sourced from seattle.gov. Data for Sydney was sourced from apcc.gov.au. Data for Vienna was sourced from wien.gv.at Data for Washington, D.C. was sourced from ocp.dc.gov.
Policies & Roadmaps: The number of categories in which a city has mitigation memberships, commitments or initiatives was sourced from REN21, a global renewable energy community of representatives from science, governments, NGOs and industry. Data for Toronto, Wuhan and Zurich was sourced from C40, CDP Cities, ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, Race to Zero, and the Global Covenant of Mayors. Data for Nairobi was sourced from a periodical.
Investment: The following fiscal incentives were sourced from the Renewables in Cities Global Status Report (REC) from REN21, a global renewable energy community of representatives from science, governments, NGOs and industry. If a city provided fiscal incentives for renewable energy for transport, it scored a 1. If it provided fiscal incentives for renewable energy for buildings, it scored a 2. If it provided fiscal incentives for renewable energy for both transport and buildings, it scored a 3. Data for Auckland was sourced from https://www.nzta.govt.nz. Data for Copenhagen and Madrid was sourced from the European Commission. Data for Dubai was sourced from the Dubai EV Community Hub. Data for London was also sourced from tfl.gov.uk. Data for Paris was also sourced from eplaque.fr. Data for Berlin, Seattle, Warsaw and Wuhan was also sourced from periodicals.
5. Scoring Process
The data collected for each indicator was normalized around a mean of 0 to make the data “apples to apples.” These normalized figures were added together to get the normalized figure for each category, as well as the normalized figure for overall circularity. The normalized figures were then used to give each city a score between 0 and 100 for each indicator, each category and overall circularity. In the case of a tie, cities are listed in alphabetical order.
6. Weighting Process
The data was weighted based on:
- The impact a category or indicator has on the circularity of a city
- The number of cities reporting data for a given indicator
- The number of cities participating in a given indicator
Each category was weighted equally at 25%. Indicators were weighted as follows
Circular Buildings
- Energy Efficiency: 40%
- Construction and Demolition Waste: 40%
- Building Certifications: 20%
Circular Systems
- Solid Waste Recycling: 40%
- Renewable Energy Consumption: 20%
- Water Recycling: 40%
Circular Living
- Green Space: 33%
- Transport: 33%
- Sharing Economy: 33%
Circular Leadership
- Circular Procurement: 50%
- Policies and Roadmaps: 20%
- Investment: 30%
Buildings
Systems
Living
Leadership
Category Scores
- Circular Buildings
- ##
- Energy Efficiency
- ##
- Construction and Demolition Waste
- ##
- Building Certifications
- ##
- Circular Living
- ##
- Green Space
- ##
- Transport
- ##
- Sharing Economy
- ##
- Circular Systems
- ##
- Renewable Energy Consumption
- ##
- Solid Waste Recycling
- ##
- Water Recycling
- ##
- Circular Leadership
- ##
- Circular Procurement
- ##
- Policies and Roadmaps
- ##
- Investment
- ##
Category Influence
How much the city’s performance in Circular Buildings, Systems, Living and Leadership contributed to its overall score.