The ranking of countries according to various indicators can be useful in bringing the world's attention to bear on important differences in national conditions and challenges. Although there remains no universally accepted ranking of the most environmentally-friendly countries, two recent rankings, the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) and the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) go some way towards filling this gap and providing an objective picture of national differences in environmental status and stewardship.
Since the 1992 Earth Summit, global environmental performance has become closely linked with the concept of 'sustainable development': development without the use of natural resources beyond the capacity of ecosystems to supply them indefinitely. The Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was established to ensure effective follow-up to the set of global sustainable development goals – known as Agenda 21 – created at the summit. The CSD developed a set of 58 Sustainable Development Indicators to monitor global progress towards Agenda 21, but have not attempted to list or rank countries according to their performance. Moreover, it has been argued that the concept of sustainable development tries to incorporate too many goals and draws attention away from immediate priorities. At the very least, it is clear that the CSD indicator list incorporates human and economic development information that is not purely 'environmental'.
To address such concerns, the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy (YCELP) and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) created the ESI. This index combines 76 indicators that track natural resource endowments, past and present pollution levels, environmental management efforts, and the ability of national societies to improve their environmental initiatives. Since its inception, YCELP and CIESIN have used the ESI on three occasions to rank countries on the basis of their current and future capacity to protect their environment: in 2001, 2002, and most recently in 2005.
The YCLEP and CIESIN have also recently developed the 2006 EPI to measure and rank the present performance of governments on a core set of environmental policy issues. This index, which combines 16 indicators related to environmental health and ecosystem vitality, reflects the need to assess performance on immediate environmental issues. If successful, the EPI will arguably represent the most direct assessment of current environmental stewardship yet created.
For more specific cross-national comparisons please consult the Earthtrends searchable database where it is possible to compare country performance on the basis of a range of specific issues such as Energy consumption and production, Environmental governance and carbon emission levels .
