How green is your department?
Magazine rates all local authority areas for 10th annual Ecology Awards - and declares one the most eco-friendly
Loire-Atlantique has been named the most eco-friendly department in France in weekly magazine La Vie's 10th annual Ecology Awards.
The department - which has been named by the magazine among the top four green departments in three of the past six years - pipped Gironde to the title, while neighbour Morbihan and the southern Hérault department finished joint third.
It fared well in six of the eight environmental criteria set by the magazine: finishing third in planning, waste management and protecting biodiversity; fifth in sustainable consumption; seventh in organic farming and 10th in energy transition.
Its dedication to organic farming, with 47,000 hectares of organic farmland, booming wind energy industry and exceptional natural sites - including the lac de Grand-Lieu, Brière marshes and the salt marshes of the Guérande - were all welcomed by the judges.
But it struggled in two other areas, finishing 54th out of 95 for water quality, and 78th for air quality. And, the magazine noted, the controversial Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport project would hit air pollution further.
The map below reveals how each department fared.
