Environmental Performance Index
The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) is a method which involves the quantification and numerical modeling of the environmental performance of a countries’ policies.?
Who frames the EPI?
The EPI index is developed by the Yale University and Columbia University in the collaboration with the World Economic Forum and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.
What has been said in the EPI?
- Till date, EPI has released very few reports.
- In a most recently released report in 2018, India was ranked in 177 out of 180 countries.
- While India has been ranked among the bottom 5 countries on the Environmental Performance Index 2018 and India has fallen 36 points from 141 in 2016.
- India’s low ranking was mainly due to its poor performance in the air pollution category where the environment health policy of India has been questioned and the deaths due to air pollution categories.
- Several deaths in India have been attributed to the super small PM2.5 pollutants which have risen sharply in the past decade. PM2.5 causes over 16,40,113 deaths in India annually.
Other parts of the Report
- The nation which has topped the index is Switzerland with France, Denmark, Malta, and Sweden rounding out the top five in the list.
- The five countries in the bottom five of the list are India, Bangladesh, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nepal.
- Diseases related to the airborne pollutants have to lead to the loss of over 2/3rd of all life-years which are lost to the environmentally related deaths and disabilities observed in the general population.
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Environmental Performance Index
Environmental Performance Index was first published in 2006 as a Pilot EPI. Up till now it has been published thrice and the last was published in 2010. It uses the objective parameters of ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH and ECOSYSTEM VITALITY and is based upon 25 elements. These elements are listed here:
1. Environmental Burden of Disease
2. Adequate Sanitation
3. Drinking Water
4. Indoor Air Pollution
5. Urban Particulates
6. Local Ozone
7. Regional Ozone
8. Sulfur Dioxide Emissions
9. Water Quality Index
10. Water Stress
11. Conservation Risk Index
12. Effective Conservation
13. Critical Habitat Protection
14. Marine Protected Areas
15. Growing Stock
16. Marine Trophic Index
17. Trawling Intensity
18. Irrigation Stress
19. Agricultural Subsidies
20. Intensive Cropland
21. Burnt Land Area
22. Pesticide Regulation
23. Emissions per capita
24. Emissions per electricity generated
25. Industrial carbon intensity
- Please note that EPI is released at World Economic Forum by Yale University and Columbia University.
- The 2010 ranking is topped by Iceland.
Why Iceland is on top?
Because, Iceland makes high scores on environmental public health, gets virtually all of its power from renewable sources (hydropower and geothermal energy) and its control of greenhouse gas emissions.
However, in 2008, Switzerland was on top and in 2006 New Zealand was on top slot.
The 2010, top 10 countries are as follows:
- Iceland 93.5
- Switzerland 89.1
- Costa Rica 86.4
- Sweden 86.0
- Norway 81.1
- Mauritius 80.6
- France 78.2
- Austria 78.1
- Cuba 78.1
- Colombia 76.8
- India’s EPI Rank was 123 with EPI score of 48.3. Pakistan follows India with 48.0 score and China precedes India with a score of 49.0. LINK