India ranks last in Environment Performance Index 2022; Detailed report here

India has finished at the bottom of the Environment Performance Index-2022 released by the World Bank. This means India is among those countries in the world that have the worst environmental health. Out of 180 countries that have been ranked, India is in the bottom five with a score of 18.9. Even Bangladesh, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Vietnam have ranked better than India. The country has also scored poorly on various measures such as control of corruption, rule of law, and government effectiveness.

The deterioration is huge as in the EPI-2020, India was ranked 168th out of 180 countries. The score of 27.6. Denmark was ranked first in the sustainability and environmental health categories this time.

The EPI was first established in 2002 as an index that measures the environmental sustainability of various countries. It was established as a global parameter in association with the World Economic Forum and Columbia University.

“EPI ranks 180 countries on climate change performance, environmental health, and ecosystem vitality. These indicators provide a gauge at a national scale of how close countries are to established environmental policy targets”, the EPI report says.

The report suggests that the economic prosperity of a country makes investing in policies on the environment possible leading to desirable income. The report further states that building necessary infrastructure can at large provide other environmental benefits like clean drinking water and sanitation, reduce ambient air pollution, and control hazardous waste. “Respond to public health crises yields large returns for human well-being,” the report states.

The report also states that countries that have been able to focus on various sustainability measures have performed better than their lagging counterparts.”

The report also states that countries that have been able to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions have made the greatest gains in curbing climate change. It also noted that these efforts have positive effects on human health and ecosystems.

The low scores of India and other countries in the EPI suggest that they need to step up their efforts on various sustainability measures such as climate change and air and water quality. Some of the other countries that have been identified as laggards include Afghanistan and Nepal. Their low scores can be attributed to weak governance, it added.