London ranked among top cities “fully open for business” on LGBT+ inclusivity and competitiveness
London has been ranked among the top cities crowned “fully open for business” in a new study assessing which places across the globe demonstrate the highest levels of inclusion and economic competitiveness.
A coalition of 25 global firms, including Deutsche Bank, KPMG and Accenture, released the Open for Business report today to reflect that LGBT+ inclusion “goes hand-in-hand” with economic performance and productivity in cities.
It said cities that were LGBT+ inclusive were better placed to develop their global competitiveness, have stronger innovation, and greater concentrations of skills and talent, as well as a higher quality of life.
Read more: How global companies are leading the way on LGBTI inclusion
Similar to credit ratings agencies, the scheme is based on 23 different economic and social inclusion metrics with scores of those declared “fully open for business” in tiers AAA to A. Cities with a lack of openness presenting political, social or personal risks come in the tiers DDD to E.
Cities ranked “fully open for business”
AAA
AA
A
London
Amsterdam
New York
Berlin
San Francisco
Chicago
Stockholm
Dublin
Toronto
Washington DC
Boston
Minneapolis
Helsinki
Montreal
Paris
Los Angeles
Madrid
Sydney
Melbourne
Vancouver
Atlanta
Dallas
Houston
Auckland
Edinburgh
Munich
Barcelona
Frankfurt
Ottawa
Birmingham
Glasgow
Stuttgart
Wellington
Hamburg
Calgary
Cities ranked not open for business
DDD
DD
D
E
Guangzhou
La Paz
Hanoi
Quito
Istanbul
Skopje
Kiev
Kingston
Amman
Port of Spain
Chongqing
Colombo
Sarajevo
Jakarta
Moscow
Almaty
Rabat
Casablanca
Dakar
Dhaka
Nairobi
Addis Ababa
Douala
Riyadh
Algiers
Jeddah
Tehran
Baku
Karachi
Cairo
Lagos
Dar Es Salaam
Lahore
Cities that ranked top for the highest quality of living included Sydney, Zurich, Munich and Vienna, which the report said were all LGBT+ inclusive cities. Similarly, London and New York were rated as highly innovative cities and performed strongly on LGBT+ inclusion.
A spokesperson for the mayor of London said: “Sadiq is determined to ensure all Londoners can share in the capital’s success and to create an economy which works for everyone, regardless of their religion, gender identity, sexual orientation or background.”
“He is working hard to break down barriers that too often prevent some people from accessing opportunities as well as acting on issues that matter to the LGBT+ community all year round,” they added. “The mayor believes inequality is not inevitable and that a fairer city can be a more productive and prosperous city. We welcome the findings of this research, which sends a clear message that London is a global beacon of diversity.”
New York, London, Berlin and San Francisco were among the most open for business cities in the world, while Cairo, Jeddah and Lagos were grouped among the least.
Sander van’t Noordende, group chief executive of Accenture’s products industry group said:
The economic and social benefits that a business derives from creating the right environment in which people who identify as LGBT+ to thrive have been proven, and now we see a link between inclusive cities and economic competitiveness.
LGBT+ inclusion is a common denominator among leading cities with a strong global economic footprint. The message is clear for cities that want to be globally important – create a tolerant, diverse cultural environment and you can be recognised as a globally integrated place to do business.
Read more: Diversity must be a priority in business, not an afterthought