Climate-Friendly Transportation in U.S. Cities

A new index on carbon-friendly transportation shows which U.S. cities are leading the fight on reducing emissions and fostering clean transportation among businesses and citizens over the course of last year.

According to new data presented in the U.S. Transportation Climate Impact Index, the New York City and Newark, N.J., metropolitan area was the cleanest hub of transportation out of all large American cities in 2020. Following closely was the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton metro area in Florida and the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro area in Oregon and Washington. The cities that rounded out the bottom of the index were Nashville, TN, Raleigh, NC, and Birmingham, AL.

The index measured different public datasets found in devices like smartphones and car sensors to determine the cities with the least amount of climate impact due to transportation. The company, StreetLight Data, releases the report annually to measure how prevalent vehicles are in each city and the popularity of non-carbon modes of transportation. According to StreetLight, cities with fairer weather were more likely to have higher levels of pedestrians and bikers and less of carbon-emitting vehicles.