Environmental Performance Index

Methodology

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. 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.

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.

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.

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.

List of countries by 2024 EPI scores

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. Sorting is alphabetical by country code, according to ISO 3166-1 alpha-3.

EPI scores vs. GDP per capita, 2024

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.

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.

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.

References

References

1. (2024-10-03). "2024 Environmental Performance Index". Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy & Center for International Earth Science Information Network Earth Institute, Columbia University.
2. (2020-01-11). "Assessing Global Environmental Sustainability Via an Unsupervised Clustering Framework". Sustainability.
3. "What Happened to Green India? Ranked Lowest as per Environmental Performance Index, India Disputes Methodology". Business Insider.
4. (2022-06-27). "India's lagging sustainability performance". Hindustan Times.
5. (2022-06-11). "Explained: What is the environment index, and why has India questioned it?". The Indian Express.
6. "Environmental performance index EPI. Pros & Cons". United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.
7. Block, S.; Emerson, J.W.; Esty, D.C.; de Sherbinin, A.; Wendling, Z.A.. (2024-10-03). "2024 Environmental Performance Index. Technical Appendix". Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy.
8. "2024 Weights". Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy.
9. Block, S.; Emerson, J.W.; Esty, D.C.; de Sherbinin, A.; Wendling, Z.A.. (2024-10-03). "2024 Environmental Performance Index". Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy.
10. (2024-10-03). "2024 Environmental Performance Index. Policymakers' Summary". Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy & Center for International Earth Science Information Network Earth Institute, Columbia University.