India has bagged one of the lowest ranks in the Environment Performance Index or EPI yet again. Overall, India ranked fifth-lowest in terms of environmental performance, beating only countries like Myanmar, Pakistan, Laos, and Vietnam. The index evaluated a total of 180 countries and India ranked 176 on it. Here are all of the important details that you would need to know about this particular index and how it evaluates India’s efforts in environment conservation.
Environment Performance Index 2024: Understanding India’s Low Rank
The EPI is released once every two years by the Yale Center For Environmental Law and Policy and the Columbia Center For International Earth Science Information Network since 2002. They evaluate a country on a total of 58 factors including but not limited to waste management, the levels of different kinds of pollutants, and emission growth rates.
These 58 indicators are divided into three categories – Ecosystem Vitality, Environmental Health and Climate Change. While India’s overall ranking is among the lowest, its ranking in these three specific categories isn’t much better either.
As per an article by The Print, India is the third-largest emitter of Greenhouse Gases or GHG. It ranked 170 out of 180 in Ecosystem Vitality. For Climate Change, it ranked 133, and for Environmental Health, it ranked 177 out of 180.
Other Crucial Factors In The Index And India’s Ranking
One of the reasons why India has ranked so low, as per The Print article is because it is heavily dependent on coal. This dependence is the major culprit for the high emissions of GHG and air pollution in the country.
It is important to note however that EPI has been the recipient of criticisms, both from private firms as well as the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. The most common criticisms were that it gives arbitrary weightage to indicators and has too much subjectivity.
Click here to see the full rankings.
What more do you think we can do to better protect the environment? Let us know in the comments section below!
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