Global map of countries by Environmental Performance Index, 2024[1]
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.
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
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]
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
^ abcBlock, 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)
^ abcd"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)
^ ab"2024 Weights"(CSV). epi.yale.edu. New Haven, CT: Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
^ abcBlock, 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)
^ ab"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)
