Estonia is the world’s most sustainable nation, according to the latest version of the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) – a biennial assessment of 177 countries’ environmental credentials by Columbia and Yale universities.
The Baltic state rose to the top of the global rankings after having simultaneously expanded its renewable energy generation capacity and cut its carbon emissions.
Estonia was closely followed by Luxembourg and the United Kingdom in the rankings, which were ranked second and third respectively.
Though some nations’ rankings have improved since the last EPI roundup, the director of the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy, Prof Dan Esty, cautioned world leaders against becoming complacent in tackling carbon emissions.
“Artificial intelligence and other new technologies are giving us an ever more accurate understanding of the state of the world’s environmental progress, but the picture they paint should give us pause,” said Esty.
“Even the most high-performing countries are failing to fully tackle some of the planet’s most critical sustainability challenges.”
The EPI scored countries against 47 environmental metrics across 12 issue categories, including ecosystem vitality, climate change and air quality.
European countries dominated this year’s league table, occupying the first 15 places. The United States, meanwhile, earned a respectable 27th place.
Estonia earned its top spot owing to its retirement of old oil shale power generators in 2019. That move slashed its overall emissions by 40 per cent – but the list’s author, Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy research director Dr Zach Wendling, warned that such gains could only occur once.
“We always encourage countries to start with the low-hanging fruit, but that was like an apple the size of a beach ball,” said Wendling. “If we really want to drive to net zero, then it’s going to take continued effort, bolder strategies, and more ambitious plans for the future.”
Bangladesh, India, Laos and Vietnam rounded out the bottom of the list, while China occupied 129th place thanks to its continued reliance on coal for over half its energy requirements.
But not everyone is convinced by the EPI’s rationale for its rankings. Dr Matt Winning – Economics of Sustainability lecturer at University College London – who was not involved with this study – said that the scheme’s scoring system hid the interconnectedness of each sustainability metric.
“No single country can insulate itself from the impacts of global issues like climate and biodiversity loss,” said Winning. “Therefore, global progress is far more important than country rankings.”
Here are the top 10 countries on the list:
- Estonia
- Luxembourg
- United Kingdom
- Finland
- The Netherlands
- Germany
- France
- Norway
- Sweden
- Austria
And here are the 10 worst-performing countries:
- Laos
- India
- Bangladesh
- Mali
- Vietnam
- Burundi
- Maldives
- Liberia
- Mauritania
- Indonesia
Read more:
