About Environmental Performance Index:
- It is a biennial index that is a scorecard that ranks countries on their environmental performance.
- It is a data-driven global benchmark developed by the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy, Columbia University’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) and Yale Center for Geospatial Solutions.
- Framework: It includes 47 indicators across 12 issue categories spanning three policy objectives: Environmental Health, Ecosystem Vitality, and Climate Change.
- It serves as a vital analytical tool for measuring how close nations are to achieving global sustainability targets, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Climate Agreement objectives.
Highlights of Environmental Performance Index 2026:
- Top 5 countries: Estonia, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, Finland and Netherlands secured
- Laos ranked the lowest in the Index.
- India rankedthe 176th position out of 177 evaluated countries.
- India’s overall EPI score came out to 22.46, compared to a regional average of 31.81.
