Why in News?
- Yale University came out with the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2026, and India ranked 176th out of 177 countries.
Importance
- The index checks how well countries are doing when it comes to keeping people and the environment healthy.
- Governments can use the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) to find out what they are doing wrong and how they can improve.
- It helps them see how they are doing compared to countries and what they need to work on to make the world a better place.
Key Highlights
- Top & Bottom Performers: Estonia ranked first with 74.79, Laos ranked last.
- India's Rank: India ranked 176th with a score of 22.46. India has been in the group of the five worst-performing countries since 2022.
- Areas of Improvement: Some movement forward in Climate Change (130th), Waste Management (141st), and Sanitation (141st).
- Major Concerns: Air Quality (174th) and Biodiversity (174th) are weak spots, and on top of that there's declining tree cover, fisheries sustainability issues, pesticide pollution, and poor urban environmental management.
- Assessment Parameters: Air quality, climate change, biodiversity, water resources, agriculture, fisheries, waste management, and sanitation.
Environmental Performance Index (EPI):
- Published every two years.
- Developed by the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy (YCELP), in collaboration with the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University.
- Measures how countries perform on environmental health and ecosystem vitality.
- The EPI is a data-driven global ranking of how well countries handle environmental challenges.
- Countries can be compared against each other and policymakers get a clearer picture of where to prioritise environmental governance.
- The EPI is often used as a way to track progress, on development and the results of environmental rules.
