2010 EnvironmentalPerformanceIndex

SUMMARYFORPOLICYMAKERS

http://epi.yale.eduReportandadditionalmaterialsavailableat:

Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy Yale University

Center for International Earth Science Information Network Columbia University

This report has been made possible by generous support from FedEx, The Summit Foundation, and The Samuel Family Foundation

in collaboration with the World Economic Forum Geneva, Switzerland

Joint Research Centre of the European CommissionIspra, Italy

Environmental sustainability has emerged as a critical policy focus across the world. Governments are increasingly being asked to explain their performance on a range of pollution control and natural resource management challenges with reference to quantitative metrics. A more data-driven and empirical approach to environmental protection promises to make it easier to spot problems, track trends, highlight policy successes and failures, identify best practices, and optimize the gains from investments in environmental protection.

The 2010 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) ranks 163 countries on 25 performance indicators tracked across ten policy categories covering both environmental public health and ecosystem vitality. These indicators provide a gauge at a national government scale of how close countries are to established environmental policy goals. This proximity-to-target methodology facilitates cross-country comparisons as well as analysis of how the global community is doing collectively on each particular policy issue.

The EPI provides a framework for greater analytic rigor in the environmental domain but also reveals severe data gaps, weaknesses in methodological consistency, and the lack of a systematic process for verifying the numbers reported by governments. Likewise, the EPI makes vivid the need for better data collection, analysis, review, and verification as an essential underpinning for the trust required to make

future worldwide policy cooperation effective. It also provides a model of transparency with all of the underlying data available online.

One of the biggest weaknesses in the current framework is the lack of ability to track changes in performance over time. Thus, the 2010 EPI offers a pilot exercise – focused on a small handful of indicators for which time series data are available – designed to make clear the potential for highlighting which countries have gained the most ground and which are falling back, as well as the issues on which global performance is improving and those on which it is deteriorating. The 2010 EPI also identifies some of the critical drivers of good environmental results including the level of development, rule of law and good governance, and a robust regulatory regime.

The overall EPI rankings provide an indicative sense of which countries are doing best against the array of environmental pressures that every nation faces. From a policy perspective, greater value derives from drilling down into the data to analyze performance by specific issue, policy category, peer group, and country. Such an analysis can assist in refining policy choices, understanding the determinants of environmental progress, and maximizing the return on governmental investments. More generally, the EPI provides a powerful tool for steering individual countries and the world toward environmental sustainability.

Index Objectives Policy Categories Indicators

EnvironmentalPerformanceIndexFramework

Air Pollution (effects on ecosystems)

Water (effects on ecosystems)

Biodiversity & Habitat

Climate Change

Environmental Health

Ecosystem Vitality

EPI

Forestry

Fisheries

Agriculture

ExecutiveSummary

Environmental Burden of Disease

Water (effects on humans)

Air Pollution(effects on humans)

Environmental Burden of Disease

Access to Drinking Water

Access to Sanitation

Urban Particulates

Indoor Air Pollution

Sulfur Dioxide Emissions

Nitrogen Oxide Emissions

Volatile Organic Compound Emissions

Ozone Exceedance

Water Quality Index

Water Stress

Water Scarcity Index

Biome Protection

Critical Habitat Protection

Marine Protected Areas

Growing Stock

Forest Cover

Marine Trophic Index

Trawling Intensity

Pesticide Regulation

Agricultural Water Intensity

Agricultural Subsidies

Greenhouse Gas Emissions/Capita

Electricity Carbon Intensity

Industrial Carbon Intensity

Sub-Saharan Africa1 Mauritius 80.62 Djibouti 60.53 Namibia 59.34 Sao Tome & Principe 57.35 Gabon 56.46 Eritrea 54.67 Swaziland 54.48 Côte d’Ivoire 54.39 Congo 54.010 Dem. Rep. Congo 51.611 Malawi 51.412 Kenya 51.413 Ghana 51.314 Mozambique 51.215 South Africa 50.816 Gambia 50.317 Uganda 49.818 Madagascar 49.219 Tanzania 47.920 Zimbabwe 47.821 Burkina Faso 47.322 Zambia 47.023 Guinea-Bissau 44.724 Cameroon 44.625 Rwanda 44.626 Guinea 44.427 Burundi 43.928 Ehtiopia 43.129 Senegal 42.330 Equatorial Guinea 41.931 Botswana 41.332 Chad 40.833 Nigeria 40.234 Benin 39.635 Mali 39.436 Niger 37.637 Togo 36.438 Angola 36.339 Mauritania 33.740 Central African Rep. 33.341 Sierra Leone 32.1

Mid East & N. Africa1 Algeria 67.42 Morocco 65.63 Syria 64.64 Israel 62.45 Egypt 62.06 Tunisia 60.67 Armenia 60.48 Turkey 60.4 9 Iran 60.010 Lebanon 57.911 Jordan 56.112 Saudi Arabia 55.313 Kuwait 51.114 Libya 50.115 Qatar 48.916 Yemen 48.317 Sudan 47.118 Oman 45.919 Bahrain 42.020 Iraq 41.021 United Arab Emirates 40.7

Eastern Europe & Central Asia

1 Albania 71.42 Serbia & Montenegro 69.43 Croatia 68.74 Belarus 65.45 Georgia 63.66 Russia 61.27 Macedonia 60.68 Kyrgyzstan 59.79 Azerbaijan 59.110 Moldova 58.811 Ukraine 58.212 Kazakhstan 57.313 Bosnia & Herzegovina 55.914 Tajikistan 51.315 Uzbekistan 42.316 Turkmenistan 38.4

84 Americas1 Costa Rica 86.42 Cuba 78.13 Colombia 76.84 Chile 73.35 Panama 71.46 Belize 69.97 Antigua & Barbuda 69.88 Ecuador 69.39 Peru 69.310 El Salvador 69.111 Dominican Republic 68.412 Suriname 68.213 Mexico 67.314 Canada 66.415 Paraguay 63.516 United States 63.517 Brazil 63.418 Venezuela 62.919 Argentina 61.020 Guyana 59.221 Uruguay 59.122 Jamaica 58.023 Nicaragua 57.124 Trinidad & Tobago 54.225 Guatemala 54.026 Honduras 49.927 Bolivia 44.328 Haiti 39.5

Europe1 Iceland 93.52 Switzerland 89.13 Sweden 86.04 Norway 81.15 France 78.26 Austria 78.17 Malta 76.38 Finland 74.79 Slovakia 74.510 United Kingdom 74.211 Germany 73.212 Italy 73.113 Portugal 73.014 Latvia 72.515 Czech Republic 71.616 Spain 70.617 Denmark 69.218 Hungary 69.119 Lithuania 68.320 Luxembourg 67.821 Ireland 67.122 Romania 67.023 Netherlands 66.424 Slovenia 65.025 Estonia 63.8 26 Poland 63.127 Bulgaria 62.528 Greece 60.929 Belgium 58.130 Cyprus 56.3

Asia and Pacific1 New Zealand 73.42 Japan 72.5 3 Singapore 69.64 Nepal 68.25 Bhutan 68.06 Maldives 65.97 Fiji 65.98 Philippines 65.79 Australia 65.710 Malaysia 65.0 11 Sri Lanka 63.712 Thailand 62.213 Brunei Darussalam 60.814 Laos 59.615 Vietnam 59.016 South Korea 57.017 Myanmar 51.318 Solomon Islands 51.119 China 49.020 India 48.321 Pakistan 48.022 Indonesia 44.623 Papua New Guinea 44.324 Bangladesh 44.025 Mongolia 42.826 North Korea 41.827 Cambodia 41.7

GeographicRegionalPeerGroups

byRank,Country,andEPIScore

PolicyConclusionsSeveralpolicyconclusionsemergefromthe2010EnvironmentalPerformanceIndexandanalysisoftheunderlyingindicators:

• Environmental decisionmaking can be made more fact-based and empirical. A data-driven approach to policymaking promises to make decisionmaking more analytically rigorous and yield systematically better results.

• While the 2010 EPI demonstrates the potential for better metrics and more refined policy analysis, it also highlights the fact that significant data gaps and methodological limitations hamper movement in this direction.

• Policymakers should move to establish better data collection, methodologically consistent reporting, mechanisms for verification, and a commitment to environmental data transparency.

• Wealth correlates highly with EPI scores. In particular, wealth has a strong association with environmental health results. But at every level of development, some countries fail to keep up with their income-group peers while others achieve outstanding results. Statistical analysis suggests that in many cases good governance contributes to better environmental outcomes.

• Environmental challenges come in several forms, varying with wealth and development. Some issues arise from the resource and pollution impacts of industrialization – including greenhouse gas emissions and rising levels of waste – and largely affect developed countries. Other challenges, such as access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, derive from poverty and under-investment in basic environmental amenities – and primarily affect developing nations. Limited endowments in water and forest resources constrain choices but need not necessarily impair performance.

• Policymakers need to set clear policy targets and shift toward more analytically rigorous environmental protection efforts at the global, regional, national, state/provincial, local, and corporate scales.

• The EPI uses the best available global datasets on environmental performance. However, the overall data quality and availability is alarmingly poor. The lack of time-series data for most countries and the absence of broadly-collected and methodologically-consistent indicators for basic concerns, such as water quality, still hamper efforts to shift environmental policy onto more empirical grounds.

Index Objectives Policy Categories Indicators

The 2010 EPI represents a “work in progress.” It aims not only to inform but also to stimulate debate on defining the appropriate metrics and methodologies for evaluating environmental performance. Feedback, comments, suggestions, and criticisms are all welcome at our website, http://epi.yale.edu.

Environmental Performance Index – Rankings & Scores

1 Iceland 93.52 Switzerland 89.13 CostaRica 86.44 Sweden 86.05 Norway 81.16 Mauritius 80.67 France 78.28 Austria 78.19 Cuba 78.110 Colombia 76.811 Malta 76.312 Finland 74.713 Slovakia 74.514 UnitedKingdom 74.215 NewZealand 73.416 Chile 73.317 Germany 73.218 Italy 73.119 Portugal 73.020 Japan 72.521 Latvia 72.522 CzechRepublic 71.623 Albania 71.424 Panama 71.425 Spain 70.626 Belize 69.927 Antigua&Barbuda 69.828 Singapore 69.629 Serbia&Montenegro 69.430 Ecuador 69.331 Peru 69.332 Denmark 69.233 Hungary 69.134 ElSalvador 69.135 Croatia 68.736 DominicanRepublic 68.437 Lithuania 68.338 Nepal 68.239 Suriname 68.240 Bhutan 68.041 Luxembourg 67.842 Algeria 67.443 Mexico 67.344 Ireland 67.145 Romania 67.046 Canada 66.447 Netherlands 66.448 Maldives 65.949 Fiji 65.950 Philippines 65.751 Australia 65.752 Morocco 65.653 Belarus 65.454 Malaysia 65.055 Slovenia 65.0

Rank Country Score Rank Country Score RankCountry Score

56 Syria 64.657 Estonia 63.858 SriLanka 63.759 Georgia 63.660 Paraguay 63.561 UnitedStates 63.562 Brazil 63.463 Poland 63.164 Venezuela 62.965 Bulgaria 62.566 Israel 62.467 Thailand 62.268 Egypt 62.069 Russia 61.270 Argentina 61.071 Greece 60.972 BruneiDarussalam 60.873 Macedonia 60.674 Tunisia 60.675 Djibouti 60.576 Armenia 60.477 Turkey 60.478 Iran 60.079 Kyrgyzstan 59.780 Laos 59.681 Namibia 59.382 Guyana 59.283 Uruguay 59.184 Azerbaijan 59.185 Vietnam 59.086 Moldova 58.887 Ukraine 58.288 Belgium 58.189 Jamaica 58.090 Lebanon 57.991 SaoTome&Principe 57.392 Kazakhstan 57.393 Nicaragua 57.194 SouthKorea 57.095 Gabon 56.496 Cyprus 56.397 Jordan 56.198 Bosnia&Herzegovina 55.999 SaudiArabia 55.3100 Eritrea 54.6101 Swaziland 54.4102 Côted’Ivoire 54.3103 Trinidad&Tobago 54.2104 Guatemala 54.0105 Congo 54.0106 Dem.Rep.Congo 51.6107 Malawi 51.4108 Kenya 51.4109 Ghana 51.3110 Myanmar 51.3

111 Tajikistan 51.3112 Mozambique 51.2113 Kuwait 51.1114 SolomonIslands 51.1115 SouthAfrica 50.8116 Gambia 50.3117 Libya 50.1118 Honduras 49.9119 Uganda 49.8120 Madagascar 49.2121 China 49.0122 Qatar 48.9123 India 48.3124 Yemen 48.3125 Pakistan 48.0126 Tanzania 47.9127 Zimbabwe 47.8128 BurkinaFaso 47.3129 Sudan 47.1130 Zambia 47.0131 Oman 45.9132 Guinea-Bissau 44.7133 Cameroon 44.7134 Indonesia 44.6135 Rwanda 44.6136 Guinea 44.4137 Bolivia 44.3138 PapuaNewGuinea 44.3139 Bangladesh 44.0140 Burundi 43.9141 Ethiopia 43.1142 Mongolia 42.8143 Senegal 42.3144 Uzbekistan 42.3145 Bahrain 42.0146 EquatorialGuinea 41.9147 NorthKorea 41.8148 Cambodia 41.7149 Botswana 41.3150 Iraq 41.0151 Chad 40.8152 UnitedArabEmirates 40.7153 Nigeria 40.2154 Benin 39.6155 Haiti 39.5156 Mali 39.4157 Turkmenistan 38.4158 Niger 37.6159 Togo 36.4160 Angola 36.3161 Mauritania 33.7162 CentralAfricanRepublic 33.3163 SierraLeone 32.1

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For detailed analysis of each country, visit http://epi.yale.edu