+44 1865 259200
Aether was appointed to develop a Sustainability Index for Oxford, comparing the city’s performance with other urban areas on a range of factors such as: Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, Transport, Water, Waste, Air Quality, Green Space, Biodiversity, Flood Risk Mitigation and Land Quality. The analysis featured quantitative as well as qualitative analysis to benchmark and evaluate Oxford’s performance and identify cases of best practice in other cities. This analysis, originally undertaken in 2016, was updated in 2019 to reflect the latest available data.
The Challenge
The key driver for this project was to establish a transparent, robust framework by which Oxford (and other cities in the future) could assess itself against key environmental criteria. The outputs will inform the City Council on areas of relatively good and poor performance, so that it can prioritise future resources and projects and work towards a cleaner, greener Oxford. The Sustainability Index utilises national, regional and local datasets to compile best and worst performance across a series of environmental indicators, which when combined provide qualitative and quantitative context as to how Oxford was performing in each category.
The Solution
Using our knowledge of national and regional datasets, as well as expertise in compiling and analysing complex datasets, we designed a comprehensive framework making use of existing and reliable information. For each quantitative aspect we identified a scale from best to worst performing urban areas and then mapped Oxford City on that scale. For qualitative aspects, we utilised a recognised policy analysis protocol which allowed us to evaluate non-quantitative environmental indicators. By weighting each of the indicators then combining them, overall scores across 10 environmental categories were developed. The results were summarised in a brief report, along with supplementary information on Oxford’s performance and best practice case studies from other cities across the UK.
The published 2016 report is available to download here. The Sustainability Index for Oxford (2016 results) is displayed below.
Kathryn Hampshire
Principal Consultant
Related case studies
Guidance on Reducing Emissions from Idling Diesel Trains
Category: Cities and Local Authorities, Rail
This RSSB project undertook research into the extent to which diesel trains are idling, where this occurs, the reasons for it, and the implications for air quality. The findings were used to produce guidance to help the rail industry to reduce the amount of idling without compromising the operation of the railway. Aether led the project team, with specialist advice from Carrickarory Consulting and Atkins-Realis.
Read case studyClimate Adaptation Plans Review for Scottish Public Bodies
Category: Cities and Local Authorities, Policies and Measures
Aether have provided an overview of the state of play of climate adaptation planning for Scottish Public Bodies. The study, commissioned by ClimateXChange (CXC) on behalf of the Scottish Government, aimed to facilitate understanding and learnings on gaps in public body reporting on adaptation, including gaps in information on costs and benefits.
Read case studySurrey Air Quality for Schools Programme
Category: Cities and Local Authorities
Aether, in partnership with London Sustainability Exchange (LSx), Surrey Air Alliance and Surrey County Council, has helped to create and implement a Cleaner Air for Schools Programme in Surrey.
Read case studyNews
Latest news
Posted on: 19 June 2026
NECD Review Week in Brussels
Aether spent a week at the European Commission in Brussels as part of the review of air pollutant inventories submitted under the EU’s National Emission reduction Ceilings Directive (NECD).
Read full storyPosted on: 18 May 2026
Power Query Workshop in Estonia
Aether travelled to the Estonian Environmental Research Centre (EKUK) in Tallinn to deliver a two-day training workshop for the inventory team to build capacity on the Excel power queries used in the GHG inventory templates previously set up by Aether in 2022.
Read full storyPosted on: 30 April 2026
Capacity Sharing in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Aether delivered a three-day GHG inventory capacity building workshop in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, towards development of the BTR1.
Read full storyPosted on: 17 March 2026
Central Asia Study Tour: Air Quality Workshop
Aether provided representatives from Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan) who were visiting the UK on a study tour with an introduction to air quality management.
Read full storyFilter news by category
Aether Blog Air Pollution Air Quality Assessments Barriers to Net Zero Capacity Building Carbon Footprint Climate Emergency Climate Equality Climate Finance Consumption COP28 Culture Data Visualisation Economic Status Emissions Reporting European Topic Centre GHG Infrastructure Inventories Local Government Mitigation MRV National Government Net Zero Oxfam Paris Agreement Policy Recruitment Society Stakeholder Engagement Waste Sector Wider Impacts
Testimonial
