Tuesday 23 October 2007

The report ranks the 60 cities in England, Scotland and Wales by the average ecological footprint of their residents. Glasgow came top and Edinburgh bottom in Scotland, whilst Newport had the lowest footprint and Bangor the highest in Wales.

These results show a damning picture for the UK, as even those cities at the lower end of the scale are consuming more than their fair share of natural resources. However, there are examples of cities that have tackled particular issues such as London, which has a very low transport footprint.

Colin Butfield, head of campaigns at WWF-UK, said: "The battle for the environment will be won or lost in our cities. They have the highest potential for eco-living due to local facilities, public transport links, dense housing and shared public resources. Whilst all cities and city dwellers could do more to reduce their impact on the environment there are some great examples of good practice on areas such as transport and housing around the UK."

The main factors affecting an individual's ecological footprint are: housing, transport, food, consumer goods and public and private services. Ecological footprint is made up of the land and sea area required to feed, provide resources, produce energy and to absorb waste and pollution.

The report recommends steps individuals can take to reduce their footprint. These include: calculate your footprint at wwf.org.uk/calculator and devise a plan to reduce it, join a green community group, holiday closer to home and try to reduce energy use in your home and save money on bills in the process.

If everyone consumed natural resources and generated carbon emissions at the rate we do in the UK we would need three planets to support us.

Colin Butfield, head of campaigns, said: "We are currently depleting the earth's natural resources quicker than it can replace them, causing problems such as disappearing forests, declining fisheries and climate change."

"However, even the most green city resident, can on average, only reduce their footprint by one third - moving from a UK average of a three planet lifestyle to a two planet lifestyle. This clearly indicates that the one planet challenge is not just about consumers - government and business must also play their part to avoid the most devastating impacts on the environment."

The report found that people in London had the second lowest transport footprint in England, due to its big public transport network, low levels of car ownership and policies to discourage large, polluting cars. Conversely, the transport footprint of the residents of St Albans is 55% bigger than that of Londoners, with lots of people commuting into London, particularly by car rather than public transport.

Sunderland uses the least of its footprint on consumer items whilst Winchester uses the most. Leicester has the lowest food footprint in England, whilst Durham has the highest.