According to the 2024 Environment Performance Index (EPI), India
is ranked 176th out of 180 countries with an EPI score of 27.6
Surpassing only Pakistan, VietNam, Laos, and Myanmar (BOTTOM 4)
Estonia tops the 2024 EPI with an EPI score of 75.3 followed by Luxembourg and Germany at 2nd and 3rd spot. Note: Previously, India was ranked 180th in the EPI 2022 and 168th in the EPI 2020.
The 2024 EPI compares and analyses environmental performance across 180 countries using 58 indicators across three main categories: Ecosystem Vitality; Environmental Health; and Climate Change.
2024 index includes 2 new categories-
- Biodiversity and habitat, which assess protection efforts
and reveal encroachments in many countries - Projected greenhouse gas emissions, which track progress towards achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
India’s Performance:
India ranks poorly in air quality (177th), projected emissions (172nd), and Biodiversity & Habitat (178th), mainly due to heavy
reliance on coal, contributing significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and high air pollution levels. In South Asia, it is the largest emitter of transboundary pollution, impacting neighbouring countries like Bangladesh. Despite its low overall rankings, India has made strides in climate change efforts (133rd), driven by investments in renewable energy and a goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070.
About EPI:
EPI is a biennial index released by the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network Earth Institute, Columbia University with support from The McCall MacBain Foundation. This index was first published in 2002. EPI assesses countries based on UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Agreement 2015, and the Kunming- Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework 2022.
