Environmental News from India:
The contemporary world is infested with competing politics around ‘national interest first’. This relegates global common interests to a lower or no priority. In this scenario, the technical contents aside, any global report produced must also be read for the narrative it promotes and the likely beneficiaries of such a narrative.
The global report on the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) was released on June 6. Beyond the narrative this report promotes, there are two immediate reasons to take note of it. First, it places India at the bottom of the list of 180 countries assessed on their environmental performance for a sustainable future. Second, it compels one to think about why is India at the bottom position. This report is jointly prepared by two US universities: Yale University and Columbia University.
The EPI Assessment 2022 has come as an utter shock, and a surprise, when it appeared that India is doing better than many in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission intensity of the economy, increasing the share of renewable energy, and increasing biomass carbon sinks. And also, in any case, India does not assess itself to be the worst!
According to the report, overall rankings point to the countries that best address the environmental challenges. The 22 countries from the ‘Global West’ (term used in the report for 22 industrialized countries) are consistently assessed with high performance, and ‘sub-Saharan Africa’ and ‘South Asia’ are the worst-performing regions. Denmark tops the performance with a score of 77.9 on 100, closely followed by the UK (77.7) and Finland (76.5). Pakistan (24.6), Bangladesh (23), Vietnam (20.1), Myanmar (19.4), and India (18.9) take the bottom ranks. Surprisingly, at an overall rank of 85, Bhutan, a carbon-negative country, takes 129th, 43rd and 103rd rank on environmental health, ecosystem viability, and climate mitigation, respectively.
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Source: Deccan Herald