EPI is a parameter describing environmental impact with a single figure. It provides an empirically grounded basis for comparing the environmental performance of countries worldwide. For instance, the 2008 EPI ranks 149 countries on 25 indicators ranging from air and water quality to biodiversity and the use of pesticides (see figure below). To make the 25 indicators comparable, each metric was converted to a proximity-to-target-measure with 0 to 100. Using these 25 indicators, scores are calculated at various levels of aggregation.
The EPI is based on targets for environmental performance and measures how close each country comes to these goals. As a quantitative gauge of pollution control and natural resource management results, the Index provides a powerful tool for improving policymaking and shifting environmental decision-making onto firmer analytic foundations.
The EPI was preceded by the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI), published between 1999 and 2005. Yale and Columbia Universities were behind creating the index to highlight the cleanest countries, and give laggards the opportunity to benchmark efforts to improve their own environments and the health of their citizens. A visual outline of Environmental Performance Index is available at http://epi.yale.edu/Home
The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) suggests that it’s mainly the rich nations that enjoy excellent environments. The top five ranked countries in the 2008, in order of best performance (with EPI in the range of 90.5-95.5), are Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Costa Rica. The world’s fifth most wealthy nation is also the world’s cleanest. Switzerland scores a perfect 100 in eight environmental indicators, including sanitation and water quality, forest health and pesticide control. But its mountainous landscape forces farmers to grow crops on every slope and in every cranny, reducing the country to a merely average score in agricultural practices.
Canada, Germany, and UK are ranked 13, 14, and 15 respectively with an EPI of just over 86. As expected, developed countries with significant financial resources for environmental management make up most of top performers. Costa Rica, a middle-income country, outperforms many developed countries as well as its neighbors, a rating that should only improve as it strives to become carbon-neutral by 2021.
Except Yemen with EPI of 49.7 the rest of the bottom 13 countries in order of performance are all located in Africa (Sub-Saharan) and lack resources for even basic environmental investments. Pakistan (with EPI 58.7) grabbed 27 while India 31 position (EPI 60.3) from the bottom showing their dismal performance on this environmental index. Along with India, China also was placed in the bottom third of the index. Nevertheless, China higher score is attributed to its better Environmental Health score.
Majority of the countries scored better in Environmental Health arena than in Ecosystem Vitality, for instance 66 countries had scores of 90 or above in Environmental Health, whereas only 2 scored above 90 in Ecosystem Vitality. For instance USA ranked at 107th in the Ecosystem Vitality category even with a very high score in the Environmental Health. It is the air emissions and climate change which reduced United States’ score drastically.
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