Feb 11th, 2008 2:56 PM

Saint John, New Brunswick ranks highest in water use while Iqaluit, Nunavut scores lowest on car use

(Toronto, Canada, February 11, 2008) Today, Corporate Knights Magazine unveiled the second-annual Corporate Knights Sustainable Cities Ranking list. The comprehensive ranking identifies Canadian cities whose practices leave the smallest environmental footprint possible and create a healthy, thriving population.

The top cities in the 2008 Corporate Knights Sustainable Cities Ranking are as follows:

Large city category: Ottawa, ON
Medium city category: Quebec, QC
Small city category: Yellowknife, NT

Corporate Knights examined 18 cities, including Canada's top ten cities by population and the largest city in each province and territory. This year's ranking added more indicators that are under municipal jurisdiction, and grouped the cities into three categories based on population to ensure proper comparison. Corporate Knights also surveyed the cities to give them the opportunity to share their own sustainability initiatives.

Cities were assessed based on five broad equally weighted categories: Ecological Integrity, Green Mobility, Economic Security, Empowerment, and Social Well-Being. Publicly available information, including Statistics Canada data, as well as city surveys, was used to determine city scores out of 10.

Corporate Knights found that Canadian cities have innovative programs in place to reduce their overall footprints from a corporate and a community perspective. Most cities have or are in the process of implementing sustainability plans and almost all of the cities surveyed have targets in place to reduce GHG emissions. Regardless, in every city surveyed, sustainability staff members are employed.

Examples of prominent city practices include installing LED traffic lights to reduce energy consumption, moving towards increased local food procurement, and promoting LEED-standard buildings.

For the first time, progressive practices of small-sized cities were examined and included in the study.

"I was pleased to discover that even with relatively small budgets and fewer resources, smaller Canadian cities are really making sustainability a priority," says Melissa Shin, associate editor and researcher for the Sustainable Cities Ranking. "In some cases, they outperformed their larger peers."