Citizenship: Ready or not for climate change?

By identifying specific targets for environmental performance and measuring how close each country comes to these established goals, the Pilot 2006 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) provides benchmarks for current national pollution control and natural resource management results.

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The issue-by-issue and aggregate rankings facilitate cross-country comparisons both globally and within relevant peer groups. The EPI thus provides a powerful tool for improving policymaking and shifting environmental decisionmaking onto firmer analytic foundations.

The EPI centers on two broad environmental protection objectives: (1) reducing environmental stresses on human health and (2) protecting ecosystem vitality. Derived from a careful review of the environmental literature, these twin goals mirror the priorities expressed by policymakers, most notably the environmental dimension of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. Environmental health and ecosystem vitality are assessed using sixteen indicators tracked in six established policy categories: Environmental Health, Air Quality, Water Resources, Biodiversity and Habitat, Productive Natural Resources, and Sustainable Energy.

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The Pilot 2006 EPI deploys a proximity-to-target methodology focused on a core set of environmental outcomes linked to policy goals for which every government should be held accountable. Top-ranked countries—New Zealand, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, and the United Kingdom—all commit significant resources and effort to environmental protection, resulting in strong performance across most of the policy categories. The five lowest-ranked countries—Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Chad, and Niger—are underdeveloped nations with little capacity to invest in environmental infrastructure (such as drinking water and sanitation systems) or aggressive pollution control and systematic natural resource management. Every country lags its peers on some issues. This suggests that all governments stand to benefit from using the Pilot EPI to identify policy options and models to borrow from other countries. Globally, considerable work remains to be done to put the planet on the path toward environmental sustainability.

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Portugal does not perform too bad, coming in place 11, France 12, Germany 22, Spain in 23, USA 28, Brasil 34, Belgium 39 (surprise...), Mexico 66 and the worst european country is Romania in 90.

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Indicators used: child Mortality , Indoor Air Pollution, Drinking Water, Adequate Sanitation, Urban Particulates, Regional Ozone, Nitrogen Loading, Water Consumption,j Wilderness Protection, Ecoregion Protection, Timber Harvest Rate, Agricultural Subsidies, Overfishing, Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, CO2 Per GDP.
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read the article in Newsweek.

For a copy of the complete Pilot 2006 EPI Report and additional materials, visit:
www.yale.edu/epi

Or check the summary here.

Check also: http://www.ciesin.columbia.edu/programs.html