Knowledge Nugget | Environmental Performance Index 2026: What does India’s ranking reveal? Which climate reports should you know?

2. Evaluating 177 nations across 47 specific metrics, the 2026 Environmental Performance Index  assesses 12 key issue categories across three policy objectives.

Indicators of Environmental Performance Index. (Source: EPI report 2026)

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. Interestingly, scores in the EPI 2026 are highly correlated with country wealth (r = 0.69), but within any level of income, some countries outperform their peers while others underachieve.

6. In the 2026 Environmental Performance Index, five European countries ranked in the top five. 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. Laos ranked the lowest with a score of 21.78.

What is India’s rank in the EPI 2026?

7. 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.

8. 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.”

Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2026

1. The CCPI is an independent monitoring tool that tracks the climate mitigation performance of 63 countries and the EU. The CCPI report is jointly published by Germanwatch, the New Climate Institute, and the Climate Action Network (CAN) International.

2. The CCPI assesses each country’s performance in four categories:

(i) GHG Emissions (40% of the overall ranking)

(ii) Renewable Energy (20%)

(iii) Energy Use (20%) 

(iv) Climate Policy (20%).

3. According to the CCPI 2026 published at the UN COP30 Climate Summit, the top three places continue to remain vacant, as no country achieved an overall very high rating.

4. Denmark emerged as the top-ranked country in the CCPI 2026 report, leading the index with 80.52 points at the 4th position. 

5. Saudi Arabia, at the 67th position, stands at the bottom of the index with a score of 11.9. It follows Iran at 66th position with 14.33 points.

6. India fell 13 places from its previous ranking of 10th to stand at 23rd in CCPI 2026 with a score of 61.31.

BEYOND THE NUGGET: Climate Risk Index (CRI) report

1. During the COP30 climate conference, the CRI report was released by Germanwatch, a Bonn-based non-governmental organisation.

2. Published since 2006, the CRI measures the consequences of climate-related extreme weather events’ effect on countries. It ranks countries by their economic and human impacts (fatalities, as well as total affected), with the most affected country ranked highest.

3. India has been ranked 9th in the list of countries worst affected by climate-related disasters in the last 30 years. The last time this index was prepared, in 2023, India was ranked eighth.

Post Read Question

Consider the following statements with reference to the Environmental Performance Index (EPI):

1. It is a biennial index.

2. It assesses countries’ environmental performance using indicators related to ecosystem vitality and climate change, among others.

3. It is published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer key

(a) 

(Sources: epi.yale.edu, Environmental Performance Index 2026: India and Laos rank the lowest, Estonia tops ranking, Knowledge Nugget: How is the Climate Change Performance Index 2026 relevant for the UPSC exam)

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