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Green Living Index 2022

The Green Living Index is a comparative piece of data analysis based on official EU data. The aim of the index is to assess how countries in Europe are responding to the different challenges of moving towards a more sustainable way of living.

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Wunderflats examined data from all EU member states as well as the United Kingdom. The result is the Green Living Index 2022, which analyses important criteria of sustainable living. These include the prevalence of Nearly Zero-Emission Buildings (NZEB), energy consumption, the share of renewable energy, solar energy generation, and how recycling is handled. In addition, the general mood on sustainability topics, the interest in second-hand furniture, as well as information on housing types and household sizes of the respective nations were included in the evaluation.*

*A standardisation procedure based on a points system was used to calculate the comparative list. Find out more about our methodology here.

key findings

Portugal, Sweden and Germany score highly

Portugal places top of the Green Living Index, which in part is due to the low levels of private energy consumption (70 kWh/m² per year). On average, European households consume far more than twice the consumption of Portugal, at 188 kWh/m² per year. Households in Romania have the highest energy consumption at 308 kWh/m² per year. Romania ranks last in the Green Living Index.

Along with Portugal and Sweden, Germany is currently one of the top countries in Europe when it comes to sustainable living. Among other things, Germany is a pioneer in solar energy: German photovoltaic systems feed 590 watts per capita into the energy grid. The European average for this is 168 watts per capita.

The United Kingdom lags behind its European neighbours

The UK ranks 23rd out of 28 countries in the list. Its poor score is largely due to low scores for renewable energy and sustainability: only 12% of UK household energy comes from renewable sources, and just 8% of energy used for heating and cooling comes from renewable sources. However, the United Kingdom performed better in the household recycling category, with 44% of waste being converted into something else.

There is still a lot to do to reach climate neutrality in housing

With the European Green Deal, the European Union has set itself the goal of climate neutrality by 2050. For the housing sector, the results of the Green Living Index show that even the greenest countries still have a lot of improvements to make in many areas.

Green Living Index 2022

Portugal, Sweden and Germany score highly

The United Kingdom lags behind its European neighbours

There is still a lot to do to reach climate neutrality in housing

Index results

Green Living Index 2022

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