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Wikipedia

Environmental Performance Index

The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) is a method of quantifying and numerically marking the environmental performance of a state's policies, highlightning the degradation of the planet's life-supporting systems on which humanity depends. A world economy that continues to rely heavily on fossil fuels translates into ongoing air and water pollution, acidification of the oceans, and rising concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. These changes threaten the survival of species already suffering from widespread habitat loss, pushing them closer to extinction. Recent analyses show that humanity has already transgressed six out of nine critical planetary boundaries that define Earth's safe operating space — and is close to crossing a seventh.

Global map of countries by Environmental Performance Index, 2024[1]

The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) was started in 2002 by World Economic Forum in association with the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy (Yale University) and Center for International Earth Science Information Network Earth Institute (Columbia University). The biennial EPI report harnesses the latest data sets, science, and technology to provide the most comprehensive assessment of the state of sustainability around the world. In total, the 2024 EPI report incorporates 58 indicators to rank 180 countries on their progress at mitigating climate change, safeguarding ecosystem vitality, and promoting environmental health. This broad set of metrics is a powerful tool to track progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the climate mitigation targets in the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement, and the biodiversity protection goals in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.[2]

In 2023, the first global assessment of progress toward the goals of the Paris Agreement revealed a grim picture: the world is far off track. Despite record deployment of renewable energy, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions keep rising. As the world enters uncharted climatic territory, there is a heightened risk of crossing irreversible tipping points in the planet's climate system.[2]

Methodology

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Environmental Performance Index Framework, 2024[2]

Over time, the methodology for the EPI has been criticized for its arbitrary choice of metrics which could introduce bias, and its poor performance as an indicator for environmental sustainability.[3] Additional criticisms center on the EPI's lack of specific policy suggestions, and the index's weighting biases against data deficient countries that has led to the overlooking of ecological progress in developing countries.[3]

In 2024, India was ranked at 176 in the list and rejected the low ranking. As per a statement issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), it claimed that several indicators used in the calculation were based on unfounded assumptions and unscientific methods.[4][5][6]

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe found 3 Pros: EPI provides an easily comparable index; EPI's ecosystem vitality scores are based on six constituent policy categories: water resources, agriculture, forests, fisheries, biodiversity and habitat, and climate and energy; the referenced database yields maps for each of EPI's partial indices (normalised to 0 … 100) and 3 Cons: CIESIN's EPI rather is an attempt to quantitatively represent the ecological performance of countries and companies; actual reasons for dysfunctionalities might need further research; EPI would be a more policy-relevant index.[7]

As a result of these criticisms, the number of EPI indicators has increased, and their weight has changed, to provide a better data-driven summary of the state of sustainability around the world. The 2024 index is based on 58 performance indicators grouped into 30 issue categories with an objective of environmental health, ecosystem vitality and climate change, ranking 180 countries.[8]

2024 EPI indicators and weights (%)
Policy Objective Wt. (%) Issue Category Wt. (%) Indicator Wt. (%)
Ecosystem Vitality 45% Biodiversity & Habitat 25 Marine KBA Protection 12.0
Marine Habitat Protection 12.0
Marine Protection Stringency 2.0
Protected Areas Representativeness Index 12.0
Species Protection Index 16.0
Terrestrial Biome Protection 10.0
Terrestrial KBA Protection 10.0
Protected Area Effectiveness 2.0
Protected Human Land 2.0
Red List Index 12.0
Species Habitat Index 8.0
Bioclimatic Ecosystem Resilience 2.0
Forests 5 Primary Forest Loss 30.0
Intact Forest Landscape Loss 30.0
Tree cover loss weighted by permanency 25.0
Net change in tree cover 10.0
Forest Landscape Integrity 5.0
Fisheries 2 Fish Stock Status 15.0
Fish Catch Discarded 20.0
Bottom Trawling in EEZ 25.0
Bottom Trawling in Global Ocean 35.0
Regional Marine Trophic Index 5.0
Air Pollution 6 Ozone exposure KBAs 8.3
Ozone exposure croplands 8.3
Adj. emissions growth rate for nitrous oxides 41.7
Adj. emissions growth rate for sulfur dioxide 41.7
Agriculture 3 Sustainable Nitrogen Management Index 40.0
Phosphorus Surplus 3.3
Pesticide Pollution Risk 16.7
Relative Crop Yield 40.0
Water Resources 5 Wastewater generated 10.0
Wastewater collected 40.0
Wastewater treated 40.0
Wastewater reused 10.0
Environmental Health 25% Air Quality 17 Anthropogenic PM2.5 exposure 38.2
Household solid fuels 38.2
Ozone exposure 8.8
NOx exposure 5.9
SO2 exposure 2.9
CO exposure 2.9
VOC exposure 2.9
Sanitation & Drinking Water 5 Unsafe sanitation 40.0
Unsafe drinking water 60.0
Heavy Metals 2 Lead exposure 100.0
Waste Management 1 Waste generated per capita 40.0
Controlled solid waste 20.0
Waste recovery rate 40.0
Climate Change 30% Climate Change Mitigation 30 Adjusted emissions growth rate for carbon dioxide 25.0
CO2 growth rate (country- specific targets) 1.7
Adjusted emissions growth rate for methane 10.0
Adjusted emissions growth rate for F-gases 6.7
Adjusted emissions growth rate for nitrous oxide 3.3
Adjusted emissions growth rate for black carbon 5.0
Net carbon fluxes due to land cover change 3.3
GHG growth rate adjusted by emissions intensity 20.0
GHG growth rate adjusted by per capita emissions 20.0
Projected emissions in 2050 3.3
Projected cumulative emissions to 2050 relative to carbon budget 1.7
Note: Wt. (%) is percent weights of overall EPI. Weights are rounded and may not add up to 100%.[1][8]

List of countries by 2024 EPI scores

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The 2024 Environmental Performance Index report ranks 180 countries and territories, based on 58 performance indicators grouped into 30 issue categories. The top five countries are Estonia, Luxembourg, Germany, Finland and the United Kingdom, while the last ones are India, Myanmar, Laos, Pakistan and Vietnam.[9] Sorting is alphabetical by country code, according to ISO 3166-1 alpha-3.

Country Region Value Trend Rank 2024
  Afghanistan South Asia  31.0   12.8 144
  Angola Sub-Saharan Africa  40.1   8.2 106
  Albania Europe & Central Asia  52.2   6.1 47
  United Arab Emirates Middle East & North Africa  51.6   9.1 48
  Argentina Latin America & Caribbean  47.0   1.1 70
  Armenia Europe & Central Asia  44.9   2.0 80
  Antigua and Barbuda Latin America & Caribbean  55.6   1.2 37
  Australia East Asia & Pacific  63.1   4.2 22
  Austria Europe & Central Asia  68.9   0.1 8
  Azerbaijan Europe & Central Asia  40.5   −0.3 103
  Burundi Sub-Saharan Africa  33.5   −1.3 138
  Belgium Europe & Central Asia  66.8   4.9 14
  Benin Sub-Saharan Africa  37.8   −0.3 119
  Burkina Faso Sub-Saharan Africa  42.2   0.1 95
  Bangladesh South Asia  28.1   2.3 148
  Bulgaria Europe & Central Asia  56.2   −1.2 35
  Bahrain Middle East & North Africa  35.3   −1.4 131
  Bahamas Latin America & Caribbean  55.9   1.6 36
  Bosnia and Herzegovina Europe & Central Asia  46.0   3.3 75
  Belarus Europe & Central Asia  58.2   8.7 31
  Belize Latin America & Caribbean  47.4   0.9 67
  Bolivia Latin America & Caribbean  45.3   3.4 78
  Brazil Latin America & Caribbean  53.0   6.7 44
  Barbados Latin America & Caribbean  53.1   2.6 43
  Brunei East Asia & Pacific  48.3   −3.1 62
  Bhutan South Asia  43.3   6.8 89
  Botswana Sub-Saharan Africa  49.2   −1.8 59
  Central African Republic Sub-Saharan Africa  39.0   −5.1 111
  Canada North America  61.1   3.5 27
  Switzerland Europe & Central Asia  67.8   2.3 9
  Chile Latin America & Caribbean  49.6   3.0 57
  China East Asia & Pacific  35.4   5.6 130
  Ivory Coast Sub-Saharan Africa  42.9   7.8 90
  Cameroon Sub-Saharan Africa  38.6   2.2 114
  Democratic Republic of the Congo Sub-Saharan Africa  39.5   6.0 109
  Republic of the Congo Sub-Saharan Africa  41.6   0.9 99
  Colombia Latin America & Caribbean  49.7   4.4 56
  Comoros Sub-Saharan Africa  38.2   −5.9 115
  Cape Verde Sub-Saharan Africa  38.0   −1.8 117
  Costa Rica Latin America & Caribbean  55.5   0.2 38
  Cuba Latin America & Caribbean  52.5   2.5 46
  Cyprus Europe & Central Asia  53.9   −0.2 41
  Czech Republic Europe & Central Asia  65.5   0.4 16
  Germany Europe & Central Asia  74.5   4.3 3
  Djibouti Middle East & North Africa  32.3   0.2 141
  Dominica Latin America & Caribbean  49.3   −0.2 58
  Denmark Europe & Central Asia  67.7   −0.3 10
  Dominican Republic Latin America & Caribbean  47.7   −1.1 66
  Algeria Middle East & North Africa  41.7   3.2 98
  Ecuador Latin America & Caribbean  51.3   7.0 49
  Egypt Middle East & North Africa  43.7   3.5 87
  Eritrea Sub-Saharan Africa  29.0   −0.3 147
  Spain Europe & Central Asia  64.0   2.2 21
  Estonia Europe & Central Asia  75.7   14.9 1
  Ethiopia Sub-Saharan Africa  36.3   3.8 125
  Finland Europe & Central Asia  73.8   3.1 4
  Fiji East Asia & Pacific  46.0   −2.4 75
  France Europe & Central Asia  67.0   1.6 12
  Federated States of Micronesia East Asia & Pacific  40.8   0.3 101
  Gabon Sub-Saharan Africa  53.3   7.3 42
  United Kingdom Europe & Central Asia  72.6   1.3 5
  Georgia Europe & Central Asia  47.3   6.2 68
  Ghana Sub-Saharan Africa  36.9   1.8 122
  Guinea Sub-Saharan Africa  36.5   −2.9 123
  Gambia Sub-Saharan Africa  37.6   0.6 120
  Guinea-Bissau Sub-Saharan Africa  42.0   −0.5 96
  Equatorial Guinea Sub-Saharan Africa  41.7   −3.3 98
  Greece Europe & Central Asia  67.3   8.9 11
  Grenada Latin America & Caribbean  45.8   0.4 76
  Guatemala Latin America & Caribbean  32.5   −2.8 140
  Guyana Latin America & Caribbean  49.0   2.3 60
  Honduras Latin America & Caribbean  40.2   2.9 105
  Croatia Europe & Central Asia  62.3   4.9 24
  Haiti Latin America & Caribbean  36.4   7.7 124
  Hungary Europe & Central Asia  59.8   −1.3 30
  Indonesia East Asia & Pacific  33.6   5.8 137
  India South Asia  27.6   4.2 149
  Ireland Europe & Central Asia  65.8   2.8 15
  Iran Middle East & North Africa  41.8   0.0 97
  Iraq Middle East & North Africa  30.3   6.4 145
  Iceland Europe & Central Asia  64.3   2.5 18
  Israel Middle East & North Africa  48.0   0.6 63
  Italy Europe & Central Asia  60.3   4.8 28
  Jamaica Latin America & Caribbean  48.5   1.0 61
  Jordan Middle East & North Africa  47.3   10.1 68
  Japan East Asia & Pacific  61.4   4.2 26
  Kazakhstan Europe & Central Asia  47.8   4.0 65
  Kenya Sub-Saharan Africa  36.9   −0.2 122
  Kyrgyzstan Europe & Central Asia  42.8   13.0 91
  Cambodia East Asia & Pacific  31.2   0.0 143
  Kiribati East Asia & Pacific  44.3   −1.1 82
  South Korea East Asia & Pacific  50.6   4.9 51
  Kuwait Middle East & North Africa  44.4   −1.8 81
  Laos East Asia & Pacific  26.3   2.0 151
  Lebanon Middle East & North Africa  39.9   7.9 108
  Liberia Sub-Saharan Africa  34.3   1.3 135
  Saint Lucia Latin America & Caribbean  51.1   2.1 50
  Sri Lanka South Asia  38.8   1.8 112
  Lesotho Sub-Saharan Africa  36.9   0.1 122
  Lithuania Europe & Central Asia  64.1   4.6 20
  Luxembourg Europe & Central Asia  75.1   3.4 2
  Latvia Europe & Central Asia  60.2   1.2 29
  Morocco Middle East & North Africa  39.5   2.6 109
  Moldova Europe & Central Asia  46.1   2.8 74
  Madagascar Sub-Saharan Africa  30.1   0.8 146
  Maldives South Asia  38.1   2.8 116
  Mexico Latin America & Caribbean  44.2   2.2 83
  Marshall Islands East Asia & Pacific  42.5   0.8 94
  North Macedonia Europe & Central Asia  50.3   1.2 52
  Mali Sub-Saharan Africa  34.5   −3.3 134
  Malta Middle East & North Africa  66.9   4.7 13
  Myanmar East Asia & Pacific  27.1   −1.4 150
  Montenegro Europe & Central Asia  47.7   −0.5 66
  Mongolia East Asia & Pacific  37.2   5.4 121
  Mozambique Sub-Saharan Africa  39.0   5.2 111
  Mauritania Sub-Saharan Africa  34.6   −3.5 133
  Mauritius Sub-Saharan Africa  47.3   2.9 68
  Malawi Sub-Saharan Africa  35.1   −6.7 132
  Malaysia East Asia & Pacific  41.0   7.3 100
  Namibia Sub-Saharan Africa  44.0   −0.1 85
  Niger Sub-Saharan Africa  40.0   7.3 107
  Nigeria Sub-Saharan Africa  37.9   4.7 118
  Nicaragua Latin America & Caribbean  47.4   1.2 67
  Netherlands Europe & Central Asia  66.9   4.4 13
  Norway Europe & Central Asia  69.9   3.3 7
  Nepal South Asia  33.1   0.7 139
  New Zealand East Asia & Pacific  57.3   1.1 32
  Oman Middle East & North Africa  51.3   12.9 49
  Pakistan South Asia  25.5   −4.0 152
  Panama Latin America & Caribbean  52.9   5.2 45
  Peru Latin America & Caribbean  46.5   3.9 73
  Philippines East Asia & Pacific  32.1   0.4 142
  Papua New Guinea East Asia & Pacific  36.9   −3.6 122
  Poland Europe & Central Asia  64.2   1.8 19
  Portugal Europe & Central Asia  61.9   4.1 25
  Paraguay Latin America & Caribbean  39.5   0.7 109
  Qatar Middle East & North Africa  46.8   5.6 71
  Romania Europe & Central Asia  57.3   −3.1 32
  Russia Europe & Central Asia  46.7   −0.1 72
  Rwanda Sub-Saharan Africa  33.9   −0.3 136
  Saudi Arabia Middle East & North Africa  42.5   9.5 94
  Sudan Sub-Saharan Africa  39.1   3.9 110
  Senegal Sub-Saharan Africa  43.8   4.8 86
  Singapore East Asia & Pacific  53.0   6.5 44
  Solomon Islands East Asia & Pacific  42.2   1.6 95
  Sierra Leone Sub-Saharan Africa  39.9   5.3 108
  El Salvador Latin America & Caribbean  41.6   −4.4 99
  Serbia Europe & Central Asia  49.8   −5.6 55
  São Tomé and Príncipe Sub-Saharan Africa  36.2   1.8 126
  Suriname Latin America & Caribbean  56.9   8.6 34
  Slovakia Europe & Central Asia  65.1   −1.6 17
  Slovenia Europe & Central Asia  62.4   0.0 23
  Sweden Europe & Central Asia  70.3   0.2 6
  Eswatini Sub-Saharan Africa  38.7   −2.4 113
  Seychelles Sub-Saharan Africa  47.9   −3.9 64
  Chad Sub-Saharan Africa  35.9   2.0 127
  Togo Sub-Saharan Africa  35.7   −1.1 129
  Thailand East Asia & Pacific  45.7   4.5 77
  Tajikistan Europe & Central Asia  32.3   −4.2 141
  Turkmenistan Europe & Central Asia  40.6   4.9 102
  Timor-Leste East Asia & Pacific  49.9   9.6 54
  Tonga East Asia & Pacific  40.4   −7.3 104
  Trinidad and Tobago Latin America & Caribbean  52.5   1.0 46
  Tunisia Middle East & North Africa  45.3   0.5 78
  Taiwan East Asia & Pacific  50.1   −0.1 53
  Tanzania Sub-Saharan Africa  43.6   5.6 88
  Uganda Sub-Saharan Africa  35.8   4.2 128
  Ukraine Europe & Central Asia  54.6   7.3 39
  Uruguay Latin America & Caribbean  44.1   0.5 84
  United States North America  57.2   0.2 33
  Uzbekistan Europe & Central Asia  42.6   −1.3 93
  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Latin America & Caribbean  54.2   0.8 40
  Venezuela Latin America & Caribbean  53.3   1.1 42
  Vietnam East Asia & Pacific  24.6   −3.7 153
  Vanuatu East Asia & Pacific  45.0   9.3 79
  Samoa East Asia & Pacific  47.1   6.0 69
  South Africa Sub-Saharan Africa  42.7   4.4 92
  Zambia Sub-Saharan Africa  46.7   3.9 72
  Zimbabwe Sub-Saharan Africa  51.6   9.5 48

EPI scores vs. GDP per capita, 2024

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EPI scores vs GDP per capita, 2024[2]
Countries’ wealth is a strong predictor of their overall environmental performance, but some countries vastly outperform their economic peers, while others lag.

EPI scores are positively correlated with a country's wealth, although after a point, increasing wealth yields diminishing. returns. At every level of economic development, though, some countries outperform their peers while others lag. Some of the poorest countries in the world outperform some of the richest. In this regard, factors other than wealth, such as investments in human development, rule of law, and regulatory quality, are stronger predictors of environmental performance.[10]

Wealth allows countries to make investments in the infrastructure required to provide clean drinking water, safely manage waste, and rapidly expand renewable energy. But wealth also leads to higher material consumption and its associated environmental impacts, such as higher rates of waste generation, GHG emissions, and ecosystem degradation. Many countries with high scores in some Ecosystem Vitality metrics — such as those measuring the pollution from pesticides and fertilizers in agriculture, the integrity of forest landscapes, and the use of destructive fishing methods — do so because their economies are stagnant and underdeveloped.[9]

Developing countries must be careful not to repeat the mistakes of nations that followed a dirty and unsustainable path to industrialization. On the other hand, rich countries need to decouple their consumption from environmental degradation and use their wealth to help developing countries leapfrog to a path of truly sustainable development, preserving their biodiversity and other global commons for the benefit of all humankind.[1][9][10]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Block, S.; Emerson, J.W.; Esty, D.C.; de Sherbinin, A.; Wendling, Z.A.; et al. (2024-10-03). "2024 Environmental Performance Index. Technical Appendix" (PDF). epi.yale.edu. New Haven, CT: Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy. Retrieved 2024-10-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ a b c d "2024 Environmental Performance Index". epi.yale.edu. New Haven, CT: Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy & Center for International Earth Science Information Network Earth Institute, Columbia University. 2024-10-03. Retrieved 2024-10-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  3. ^ a b Kanmani, Aiyshwariya; Obringer, Renee; Rachunok, Benjamin; Nateghi, Roshanak (2020-01-11). "Assessing Global Environmental Sustainability Via an Unsupervised Clustering Framework". Sustainability. 12 (2): 563. doi:10.3390/su12020563. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
  4. ^ Banerjee, Ankush. "What Happened to Green India? Ranked Lowest as per Environmental Performance Index, India Disputes Methodology". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
  5. ^ "India's lagging sustainability performance". Hindustan Times. 2022-06-27. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
  6. ^ Roy, Esha (2022-06-11). "Explained: What is the environment index, and why has India questioned it?". The Indian Express. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
  7. ^ "Environmental performance index EPI. Pros & Cons". unece.org. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
  8. ^ a b "2024 Weights" (CSV). epi.yale.edu. New Haven, CT: Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
  9. ^ a b c Block, S.; Emerson, J.W.; Esty, D.C.; de Sherbinin, A.; Wendling, Z.A.; et al. (2024-10-03). "2024 Environmental Performance Index" (PDF). epi.yale.edu. New Haven, CT: Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy. Retrieved 2024-10-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ a b "2024 Environmental Performance Index. Policymakers' Summary". epi.yale.edu. New Haven, CT: Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy & Center for International Earth Science Information Network Earth Institute, Columbia University. 2024-10-03. Retrieved 2024-10-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)

See also

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