India ranked worst in the world in terms of environmental performance in 2022

Highlights:

• India getting ranked at the bottom of all countries in the 2022 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) has created a buzz. 
• India came in last out of 180 countries.
• Climate change, environmental public health, and biodiversity are among the 40 performance factors used by the EPI to rank 180 nations.
• With an overall score of 18.9, India came in last, while Denmark came in first as the world’s most sustainable country.
• The score is based on a report by Yale University and Columbia University in collaboration with the World Economic Forum. 
• EPI is an attempt toward meeting the UN stipulated sustainable development goals (SDGs). 
• This year, the study used 40 performance indicators across 11 environmental issue categories, to sum up the ranking. 
• It included three policy objectives which are Climate, Environmental Health and Ecosystem Vitality.

• The top places were secured by Denmark, the United Kingdom and Finland with an EPI score of 77.9, 77.7 and 76.5 respectively. Neighbouring countries like Myanmar, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Pakistan fall under the category of low-scoring countries whose main focus was economic growth over sustainability. 
• Civil unrest is one of the main reasons behind the weak performance of these countries.
• India has registered a 10-year change of -0.6, with an EPI score of 18.9. 
• Across different categories, India particularly came in the bottom list in biodiversity, air quality, ozone, ecosystem vitality and health. 
• The report highlighted India’s rising greenhouse gas emissions, and deteriorating climate change. 
• Looking at the past year’s trends, India has ranked 178 in 2017, 177 in 2018 and 168th in 2020.

• The parameters which pulled down India include biodiversity, air quality, health and ecosystem vitality where India scored 5.8, 7.8, 12.5, 19.3 respectively. Denmark, on the other hand, scored 76.9, 80.5, 85.5 and 61.3 respectively on these aspects.