Coloradans do a great job of protecting the future of the planet in many different ways. From toting reusable grocery bags and recycling to installing solar panels on their homes, the hard work and efforts of Centennial State residents are paying off. So much so, that Colorado was recently recognized by WalletHub as being one of the most environmentally-friendly states in the country.

In order to determine the greenest states, WalletHub compared the 50 states across three categories: 1.) Environmental Quality, 2.) Eco-Friendly Behaviors and 3.) Climate-Change Contributions. The team of experts then further broke down these overarching categories into 25 separate sub-groups, including air and soil quality, gasoline consumption, and available recycling programs, and compared these on a state-by-state basis.

When it comes to the greenie scale, Colorado landed in the No.12 spot on the rankings thanks to all of the environmentally-conscious measures that have been taken thus far. The Centennial State topped the category for having the most LEED-Certified (energy-efficient) buildings per capita, which is more than eight times as West Virginia has. Colorado was also recognized for the amount of climate change contributions that are being taken, such as working to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions per capita.

Vermont earned the No.1 spot as being the greenest state, while West Virginia came in last on the list as far as environmentally-friendly efforts go. See the full list on WalletHub.com.

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