Delhi ranks last in world green index: UN report

The latest United Nations report on world cities ranks the national capital virtually the lowest among 95 cities in the environment index.
The 'State of the World's Cities' report by UN Habitat released on October 17 has assessed the prosperity of the cities on various parameters such as productivity, quality of life and environment sustainability.
Delhi has scored only 0.448 (maximum is 1) in the last category, much less than even Dhaka and Kathmandu. Delhi's poor record in this segment has contributed to the lower ranking of the national capital at 58 among 95 select cities.
Acity will be considered to be environmentally sustainable, according to this report, when it values protection of the urban environment and natural assets while ensuring growth.
It should also be seeking ways to use energy more efficiently, minimize pressure on surrounding land and natural resources and minimize environmental losses by generating creative solutions to enhance the quality of environment.
The environmental sustainability index is made of three sub-indices - air quality (particulate matter10), CO2 emissions and indoor pollution.
"While Delhi has progressed a lot and urban infrastructure development has been significant, the pollution level here is higher than most of the other cities.
The huge increase in personal vehicles on Delhi's roads has been one of the major factors contributing to the deterioration in the ambient air quality of the captal. The city is also far behind Mumbai in the environment index.
In infrastructure development, however, it has left many cities, including Manila, Jakarta and Mumbai, far behind. "But what has gone against the Indian capital is its poor ranking in the productivity index.
Data shows that almost 7-8 in every 10 jobs created in Delhi are from the unorganized sector. People working in these sectors always fear losing jobs and that impacts productivity.