Journalism of Courage
Environmental Performance Index 2026: India and Laos rank the lowest, Estonia tops ranking
Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2026 Ranking: The 2026 Environmental Performance Index ranks 177 nations across 47 key indicators, highlighting the divide between top performing countries rapidly decarbonizing and low ranking nations grappling with severe air quality and sustainability challenges.
In the 2026 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), Estonia claimed the No. 1 spot with an overall score of 74.79. (Photo Credit: wikimedia commons)
Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2026: Evaluating 177 nations across 47 specific metrics, the 2026 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) assesses 12 key issue categories that highlight major sustainability challenges in climate change, ecosystem vitality, and environmental public health.
The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) is a data-driven global benchmark developed by the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy, Columbia University’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) andYale Center for Geospatial Solutions, Yale University with support from the McCall MacBain Foundation.
By aggregating indicators spanning air and water quality, biodiversity, sustainable forestry, and greenhouse gas reduction, the index provides policymakers with an objective scorecard to track sustainability progress, identify ecological vulnerabilities, and refine environmental policy. Ultimately, the EPI serves as a vital analytical tool for measuring how close nations are to achieving global sustainability targets, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Climate Agreement objectives.
In the 2026 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), Estonia claimed the No. 1 spot with an overall score of 74.79. Following behind, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, and Finland were positioned at No. 2, 3, and 4, respectively, while the Netherlands secured No. 5. Rounding out the rest of the leaderboard, Germany, France, and Norway took the No. 6, 7, and 8 spots, with Sweden ranking 9th and Austria completing the top 10 list.
India’s performance
Five European countries ranked in the top five this year in the Environmental Performance Index. India ranked second from the bottom, taking the 176th position out of 177 evaluated countries. India’s overall EPI score came out to 22.46, compared to a regional average of 31.81. Additionally, tree cover loss in key biodiversity areas recorded a score of -3.92.
In 2022, when India ranked 180th out of 180 countries, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, rejected the rankings, stating that the “Index has many indicators based on unfounded assumptions” and that “some of these indicators used for assessing performance are extrapolated and based on surmises and unscientific methods.”
Top 10 countries in Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2026:
| Rank | Country |
| 1 | Estonia |
| 2 | Luxembourg |
| 3 | United Kingdom |
| 4 | Finland |
| 5 | Netherlands |
| 6 | Germany |
| 7 | France |
| 8 | Norway |
| 9 | Sweden |
| 10 | Austria |
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