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Bengaluru: India ranks second from lowest – 176 – in this year’s Environment Performance Index (EPI), a global index that rates countries based on indicators pertaining to environmental health, ecosystem vitality and mitigating climate change.

India has an overall EPI score of 22.46 (on a range of 0 to 100). In contrast, the best performing country, Estonia, has an EPI score of 74.79. India also had the lowest regional ranking (eight), among eight south Asian countries.

The last EPI (in 2024) ranked India at 176 among 180 countries. Previously, EPI 2022 ranked India at 180, at the very bottom. This ranking had prompted the Indian government to issue a statement a few days later claiming that the Index was based on “surmises and unscientific methods”.

Global rankings for environmental performance

Scientists from institutes including the universities of Yale and Columbia put together a global Environment Performance Index (EPI) every two years. The Index is calculated for each country by compiling data (from numerous sources including satellite imagery) on several indicators and specific ‘issue categories’ under policy objectives. One policy objective is ‘environmental health’; it includes issue categories such as air quality, and indicators such as ambient fine particulate matter levels.

Another policy objective is ecosystem vitality, which reflects how well countries manage their natural resources. It includes indicators such as tree cover loss, pesticide pollution risks and marine habitat protection. The third policy objective is climate change mitigation, which includes indicators such as carbon dioxide and methane emission trends. All these are taken into account to provide each........

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