Sheffield named the UK's greenest city in new study revealed for COP26 climate summit

Edinburgh was second and Cardiff third in the NatWest Green Cities Report.

The report, developed in conjunction with experts from the University of Southampton, was commissioned as part of the bank’s climate strategy and released during the COP26 climate summit.

The UK's 25 biggest cities by population were analysed and ranked using a range of environmental data.

Cities were ranked based on their scores of six overall categories: green space, energy use/production, motor vehicles, waste and recycling, commuting travel and pollution.

Sheffield ranked highly on several criteria including size of green spaces and green energy production.

Thanks to 22,600 acres of green space (the equivalent of 155m2 per resident) and a high volume of renewable energy production (71MWh/1,000 people annually - second only to windfarm-central city of Hull), the city scored particularly well in key areas. Residents of Sheffield also use a relatively low amount of energy per person compared to other cities and have a high percentage of ULEZ vehicles.

Professor William Powrie, from the University of Southampton, said: “It’s great to see Sheffield scooping the accolade of the UK’s greenest city, with schemes like their Grey to Green campaign creating high quality green recreational and active transport corridors, helping people behave more sustainably in their daily lives, and benefitting the city’s environmental trajectory.”​​​​​​​​​​​​​​