Environmental Performance Index And India

Context:

India has questioned its bottom ranking among 180 nations on the Environmental Performance Index.

Relevance:

GS III- Environment and Ecology

Dimensions of the Article:

1. Key points
2. About Environmental Performance Index 2022

Key points:

• The newly released Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2022, measured by Yale and Columbia universities, ranks India at the bottom position among 180 countries.
• India was ranked the lowest with just 18.9 points.
• The Environment Ministry has issued a rebuttal saying the indicators used in the assessment are based on “unfounded assumptions”.
• The Ministry has issued a statement claiming that new indicators have been added to the index, which does not explain or assess accurate change
• Giving an example of the Projected GHG Emissions levels in 2050, a new indicator in the Climate Policy objective, they alleged that it is calculated as an average rate of emission change in the past ten years, instead of actual long term modelling, renewable energy capacity and usage, added carbon usage, and the overall energy efficiency of countries.
• The ministry added that the presence of forests and wetlands, which are “crucial carbon sinks”, have not been assessed while calculating the Projected GHG emissions, while the indicators where India performed well have been reduced in weightage

About Environmental Performance Index 2022:

• It is recently published by the Yale Center for Environment Law and Policy and the Center for International Earth science Information Network, Columbia University.
• The report has ranked the 180 countries in Environmental Performance Index 2022 on 40 performance indicators across the 11 issue categories on environmental health, climate change performance, and ecosystem vitality.
• The analysis of the environmental performance by the 180 countries for the Environmental Performance Index 2022 is being done by the researchers at the Earth Institute of Yale and Columbia University.
• As per the report, the countries are scored and ranked in the Environmental performance Index 2022 on the basis of the environmental performance with the use of the most recent year’s data available.
• The scores are calculated to observe how they have changed over the previous years.
• Top 5 Countries:
  • Denmark
  • United Kingdom
  • Finland
  • Malta
  • Sweden
• India’s neighboring nations have done better including Pakistan which is ranked at 176 and Bangladesh at 177
• The three primary categories under which the scores have been given are

• Ecosystem vitality
• Climate change performance
• Environmental health
• India has score 19.3 on the ecosystem vitality on the index and the change in the area in the last decade in -2.
• The country has score 12.5 on health, meaning poor air quality, drinking water and sanitation.
• India’s waste management in terms of ocean plastics, solid wastes and recycling is also poor.

-Source: The Indian Express