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It’s official: these are the greenest countries in Europe in 2024

A new index has evaluated everything from recycling rates to CO2 emissions to reveal Europe’s most sustainable destinations

Liv Kelly
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Liv Kelly
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As many of us are gradually making a more conscious effort to travel sustainably, it’s always good to know which destinations are prioritising the environment too. And to make that a little clearer, Swedish solar company Hemsol has done some research. 

Using data from the European Environment Agency, the Odyssee-Mure Project and the Energy Institute, they’ve created an index that includes factors like renewable energy share, rates of recycling and CO2 emissions to reveal which European countries are the greenest. 

Norway came top of the list. Despite the relatively high CO2 emissions per capita, a large proportion of Norway’s energy comes from renewable sources. What’s more, the country’s government is committed to ensuring developing countries can also access clean and sustainable energy. 

In second place was Austria, which scored well thanks to the fact that it has the highest share of passenger traffic on public transport in Europe, and Finland came in third place, which announced a Climate Act that came into effect in July 2022. 

The ranking is a testament to the fact that northern Europe in particular is committed to environmental protection – just take a look at the rest of the list below. 

These are the ten greenest countries in Europe

  1. Norway
  2. Austria
  3. Finland
  4. Iceland
  5. Sweden
  6. Estonia
  7. Germany
  8. Luxembourg
  9. Switzerland
  10. Slovenia

Did you see that this city has just been named the best in Europe by Time Out?

Plus: Europe could get a brand-new train service connecting multiple cities in 2024

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