Environment Performance Index

In News: Environment Performance Index-2022, an international ranking system that measures environmental health and sustainability of countries

India’s Performance

• India was ranked last among 180 countries that have been ranked
• With a score of 18.9, India’s 180th ranking comes after Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Myanmar — the bottom five together make up the poorest performing countries for environmental health.
• India has also scored low on rule of law, control of corruption and government effectiveness
• India was ranked 168th in EPI-2020, with a score of 27.6

About EPI

• The EPI, a biennial index, was started in 2002 as Environmental Sustainability Index.
• EPI is published by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and the Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network
• Using 40 performance indicators across 11 issue categories, EPI ranks 180 countries on climate change performance, environmental health, and ecosystem vitality.
• Top five rank holders this year are – Denmark, UK, Finland, Malta and Sweden

Findings of the report

• It has found that good policy results are associated with wealth, meaning economic prosperity makes it possible for nations to invest in policies and programmes that lead to desirable outcomes
• This is especially true under environmental health, as building the necessary infrastructure to provide clean drinking water and sanitation, reduce air pollution, control hazardous waste etc yields large returns for human well-being
• The report says that top-performing countries have paid attention to all areas of sustainability, while their lagging peers tend to have uneven performance.
• It highlights that countries making concerted efforts to decarbonize their electricity sectors have made the greatest gains in combating climate change, with associated benefits for ecosystems and human health.

Source: Indian Express