India has secured 168 ranks in the 12th edition of the biennial Environment Performance Index (EPI Index 2020).
CSP 2019 has been a year with two questions based on rankings and indices viz. the EoDB index and Global Competitiveness Index. Note all such indices and their publishing agencies here at [Prelims Spotlight] Important reports and indexes
About EPI
- The EPI measures the environmental performance of 180 countries.
- It is biennially released by the Yale University.
- It considers 32 indicators of environmental performance, giving a snapshot of the 10-year trends in environmental performance at the national and global levels.
The performance on climate change was assessed based on the following indicators —
- Adjusted emission growth rates;
- Composed of growth rates of four greenhouse gases and one pollutant;
- Growth rate in carbon dioxide emissions from land cover;
- Greenhouse gas intensity growth rate; and
- Greenhouse gas emissions per capita.
Performance of the South Asian Region
- The 11 countries lagging behind India were — Burundi, Haiti, Chad, Solomon Islands, Madagascar, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Liberia.
- All South Asian countries, except Afghanistan, were ahead of India in the ranking.
India’s performance
- A ten-year comparison progress report in the index showed that India slipped on climate-related parameters.
- India scored below the regional average score on all five key parameters on environmental health, including air quality, sanitation and drinking water, heavy metals and waste management.
- It has also scored below the regional average on parameters related to biodiversity and ecosystem services too.
- Among South Asian countries, India was at the second position (rank 106) after Pakistan on ‘climate change’. Pakistan’s score (50.6) was the highest under the category.
Remarks for India
- The report indicated that black carbon, carbon dioxide emissions and greenhouse emissions per capita increased in 10 years.
- India needs to re-double national sustainability efforts on all fronts, according to the index.
- It needs to focus on a wide spectrum of sustainability issues, with a high-priority to critical issues such as air and water quality, biodiversity and climate change.
