When: The tenth Environment Performance Index 2018 (EPI 2018) was released on 23 January 2018 during World Economic Forum summit at Davos.
Publisher: It is a biennial report and published by Yale and Columbia Universities in collaboration with the World Economic Forum.
About Index: It ranks 180 world countries on 24 environment performance indicators across 10 environmental issue categories involving environmental health to ecosystem vitality.
India Ranking: According to the report India is ranked at 177th place out of 180 nations. It means India is the fourth worst nation worldwide in curbing pollution. India is down from its 141st position in 2016. Even Pakistan (169th) is ranked above India, however, it is also among bottom nations. The report says that China and India’s lower rankings reflect the strain population pressures and rapid economic growth impose on the environment. India’s EPI score is 30.57. India has performed well in Methane Emissions Intensity where it is ranked at 35th position and in fish stock status, where it is placed at 22nd position. But it performed worst in Environmental Health where is at the bottom (180th place). India is placed at 131st rank in Air pollution Index.
Top Ranking: Switzerland has topped the index, followed by France, Denmark, Malta, and Sweden.
Bottom rankers: Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nepal are the bottom the three nations.
Ranks meaning: Top ranking indicates that it has shown extraordinary performance on most of the environmental issues, including air quality and climate protection. For bottom nations, it reflects poor performances. These countries require national sustainability efforts on a number of fronts, especially cleaning up air quality, protecting biodiversity, and reducing GHG emissions.
10 environmental issue categories
Categories India ranking
1. Agriculture 125
2. Air Pollution 131
3. Biodiversity and Habitat 139
4. Climate and Energy 120
5. Fisheries 53
6. Forests 68
7. Water Resources 107
8. Air Quality 178
9. Heavy Metals 175
10. Water and Sanitation 145
Overall India 177
EPI 2018 Ranking
Rank Countries
1 Switzerland
2 France
3 Denmark
4 Malta
5 Sweden
20 Japan
27 USA
120 China
177 India
180 Burundi
