Environment
India comes last in the Global Environmental Performance Index 2022
Ranks at 180 in the EPI Index. Centre opposes the Rankings, calls it ‘unscientific’ & ‘Biased’
Shobhit Chandola – Mumbai Uncensored, 11th June 2022
On June 8, 2022 came the report of Global Environment Performance Index published by the Yale Centre for Environment Law & Policy in association with International Earth science Information Network, Columbia University & World Economic Forum. The report consisted of assessment on 180 global nations on the basis of 40 indicators. But what came as a shock was the Performing Score of India at 18.9 which makes India the lowest in the rank. What comes as a big blow is that the peer countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar, Pakistan & Vietnam have fared above India in the rank.
It is worth noting that the EPI calculation variables majorly comprises Air Quality Index, Biodiversity, Energy policies, Water Resources, Agriculture and Forest cover. On the contrary, it was Denmark who secured the first position in the index. In the preceding 2020 EPI index, India’s rank was 168/180 which ultimately shows the major drop making India the world’s least sustainable country.
In response to the EPI Index , the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change ( MOEFC ) issued a statement calling out the EPI score to be unscientific and biased in its methodology. The Environment Ministry rebutted that the indicators like forests- wetlands, energy efficiency, soil health, Agro Biodiversity & food loss/waste in which India was faring well in recent time were not taken into consideration in the report. Not just the government but several Environmentalists questioned the credibility of the report as just a few months back, India secured 10th Rank in the Climate Change Performance Index by CAN International and German Watch. One of the renowned Environmentalists and the CEO of IForest, Mr. Chandra Bhushan took a dig at EPI team. Here’s what he said.
What makes the report looks unsuitable to the Centre is the latter’s stance over the Environmental policies. Over the span of 8 years, the think tanks and the MOEF&CC under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi have launched the AMRUT Mission ( for clean cities ), Namami Gange ( river clean-up programme ) , Soil health card in collaboration with ‘Save Soil’ initiative, International Solar Alliance ( to promote resilience of infrastructure systems to climate & disaster ), India Cooling action plan (ICAP ), LiFE Global Movement (for sustainable development & eco friendly lifestyle ) , Eco- Development Force scheme ( for ecological restoration ), Swachh Bharat and much more.
Even the central government achieved the COP21 target of 40% of electricity consumption from non-fossil energy sources , a record 9 years earlier than 2030. And the recent commitment of Net Zero Carbon emission by 2070 at the COP 26 conference at Glasgow, England all indicates the sign of betterment in the field of Environment which ironically shouldn’t make India suffer a big blow in terms of EPI rank.
But then the question arises on the moral grounds and the factors fulfilment which either of the two ( EPI or MOEF&CC) seems to be disenchanted in case the research & implementation contradicts. Only time will tell the achievements of the Environmental Ministry’s policies with respect to the hypothesis of the EPI 2022 report. For now, the conversation between the World Economic Forum & ruling GOI doesn’t seem to be on the same page.