In the 2022 Environment Performance Index (EPI), an analysis by Yale and Columbia University researchers that gives a data-driven evaluation of the situation of sustainability around the world, India came in last out of 180 countries. Climate change, environmental public health, and biodiversity are among the 40 performance factors used by the EPI to rank 180 nations.
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KEY POINTS:
- With an overall score of 18.9, India came in last, while Denmark came in first as the world’s most sustainable country.
- The US was ranked 20th out of 22 rich democracies in the western world, and 43rd overall.
- The comparatively low ranking reflects the Trump administration’s erosion of environmental protections.
- The United States lost time to address climate change as a result of its withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement and reduced methane emission laws, while many of its counterparts in the industrialised world enacted legislation to drastically reduce their greenhouse emissions.
EPI Study and Results:
- According to the findings of the EPI study, effective policy outcomes are directly related to GDP per capita.
- Economic success allows countries to invest in policies and programmes that assist them achieve their objectives.
- Trends that threaten ecosystem vitality, especially in the developing world, where air and water emissions remain large, are a result of the desire of economic prosperity embodied in industrialisation and urbanisation.
According to EPI, data reveals that emerging countries do not have to choose between economic security and sustainability. Policymakers and stakeholders in leading countries have taken initiatives to address climate change, demonstrating that concentrated attention can mobilise communities to conserve natural resources and human well-being.
More About Rankings:
- India and Nigeria are at the bottom of the list. Their poor EPI scores indicate that more attention should be paid to the full range of sustainability needs, with a particular emphasis on crucial concerns like as air and water quality, biodiversity, and climate change.
- Only a few nations, like Denmark and the United Kingdom, are on track to fulfil net zero emission objectives by 2050, according to EPI estimates.
- With rapidly expanding greenhouse gas emissions, countries like China, India, and Russia are heading in the wrong way.
According to the EPI, four nations, China, India, the United States, and Russia, would account for more than half of global residual greenhouse gas emissions in 2050 if current trends continue. Policymakers, the media, business leaders, non-governmental organisations, and the general public use the projected emissions in 2050 metric to assess the adequacy of national policies, highlight the largest contributors to climate change, and rally support to improve the emissions trajectories of those who are off-track.