2016 REPORT GLOBAL METRICS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT The Environmental Performance Index ranks countries‘ performance on high-priority environmental issues. www.epi.yale.edu Yale Center Yale Data Driven Center for International In collaboration with the With support from for Environmental Environmental Group, Earth Science World Economic Forum Samuel Family Foundation Law & Policy, Yale University Information Network, McCall MacBain Foundation Yale University Yale-NUS College Columbia University The 2016 Environmental Performance Index is a project lead by the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy (YCELP) and Yale Data-Driven Environmental Solutions Group at Yale University (Data-Driven Yale), the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) at Columbia University, in collaboration with the Samuel Family Foundation, McCall MacBain Foundation, and the World Economic Forum. About YCELP About the Samuel Family Foundation The Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy, a The Samuel Family Foundation has a long history of joint research institute between the Yale School of supporting the arts, healthcare and education. In recent Forestry & Environmental Studies and Yale Law School, years, it has broadened its mandate internationally, to seeks to incorporate fresh thinking, ethical awareness, engage in such partnerships as the Clinton Global Initiative, and analytically rigorous decision making tools into and participate in programs aimed at global poverty environmental law and policy. alleviation, disability rights and human rights advocacy, environmental sustainability, education and youth programs. About Data-Driven Yale The Yale Data-Driven Environmental Solutions Group About the McCall MacBain Foundation seeks to address critical environmental challenges using The McCall MacBain Foundation is based in Geneva, cutting edge data analytics and other innovative methods. Switzerland, and was founded by John and Marcy McCall Launched in 2015, the research group is an interdisciplinary MacBain. Its mission is to improve the welfare of humanity collaboration of policy experts, data scientists, visual through focused grants in education, health and the designers, and interactive programmers at the Yale School environment. Believing that strong, dedicated and creative of Forestry and Environmental Studies and Yale-NUS leadership are required in these areas to achieve positive College, Singapore. outcomes, much of its funding is designed to identify and support individuals having such qualities. About CIESIN The Center for International Earth Science Information About the World Economic Forum Network’s mission is to provide access to and enhance the The World Economic Forum is an independent international use of information worldwide, advance the understanding of organization committed to improving the state of the world human interactions in the environment, and serve the needs by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of science and public and private decision making. of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. Suggested Citation: Hsu, A. et al. (2016). 2016 Environmental Performance Index. New Haven, CT: Yale University. Available: www.epi.yale.edu. CC $ Creative Commons License: BY NC Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). 2 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Authors .......................................................6 Expert Contributors ...........................................7 Abbreviations and Acronyms .................................9 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...............................10 What is the EPI? ...........................................11 Why the EPI? ..............................................11 Results and Conclusions .................................11 Key Findings of the 2016 Environmental Performance Index .......................13 Other Conclusions ........................................16 Rankings ...................................................18 INTRODUCTIONS .......................................20 Global Policy Developments Warrant New Measurement .............................21 What is the EPI? ..........................................22 New Developments ......................................23 Why Measurement Matters? ............................24 Why Rank? ................................................25 Organization of this Report ..............................25 METHODS .................................................26 The EPI Framework ......................................27 Calculating the EPI .......................................28 Data Sources .............................................31 Material Thresholds ......................................31 Fisheries Penalties .......................................32 REGIONAL TRENDS AND RESULTS ...............110 National Results ..........................................111 Regional Trends .........................................112 Regional Results - Tables ...............................112 Relationship between GDP and the EPI ...............116 CONCLUSION ............................................118 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS HEALTH IMPACTS ....................................................................34 Defining a Risk Factor ...............................................................36 Calculating the Attributable Disease Burden of a Risk Factor ...................36 What Risk Factors Reveal ...........................................................37 Regional and Global Trends ........................................................38 AIR QUALITY ...........................................................................42 Air Quality - A Global Challenge ....................................................45 Household Air Pollution .............................................................48 Air in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ................................49 WATER AND SANITATION ........................................................52 Global Progress in Access to Sanitation and Drinking Water Data ..............55 WATER RESOURCES .................................................................56 Improving Wastewater Data for Rural and Urban Areas ..........................61 Impacts of Wastewater Pollution ...................................................62 AGRICULTURE .........................................................................64 New Nitrogen Indicators .............................................................67 FORESTS .................................................................................68 What the Indicator Reveals by Region .............................................74 Forests’ Relationship to Climate Change ..........................................77 FISHERIES ...............................................................................78 Exclusive Economic Zones as Effective Fisheries Management Tools ..........81 Fish Stock Status as a Crude Proxy of Fisheries Management ..................83 Preliminary Data Holds Future Promise ............................................85 Penalizing Poor Quality Fisheries Data .............................................88 Investments Needed for Improved Fisheries Data ................................89 BIODIVERSITY AND HABITAT ....................................................90 Aiming for Targets that Protect .....................................................94 Introducing New Species Protection Indicators ...................................95 Recent Efforts to Address Biodiversity Loss ......................................96 CLIMATE AND ENERGY ............................................................98 Measuring Climate Change Performance According to Development Status ............................................................ 101 Climate Change Performance in Developing and Emerging Economies ...... 102 Challenges in Disentangling Performance ....................................... 105 Future Climate Metrics ............................................................ 106 5 AUTHORS Principal Investigator and Director Professor Angel Hsu, Yale-NUS College and Yale University Yale University Interactive Design Center for International and Programming Earth Science Information Nikola Alexandre, Research Assistant Jayshree Sarathy, Network, Columbia University Sam Cohen, Research Assistant Yale College Marc A. Levy, Deputy Director Pamela Jao, Research Assistant Diego Torres-Quintanilla, Alex de Sherbinin, Elena Khusainova, Data Analyst Yale College Senior Research Associate Don Mosteller, Research Fellow David Wong, Yale College Malanding Jaiteh, GIS Specialist Yuqian Peng, Research Assistant Tricia Chai-Onn, GIS Specialist Cameron Yick, Yale College Carlin Rosengarten, Writer and Editor Anna Young, Yale College Jason D. Schwartz, Researcher and Writer Ariana Spawn, Research Assistant Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy Amy Weinfurter, Research Fellow Infographic Design Professor Daniel C. Esty, Director Kaiyang Xu, Data Analyst Peter Hirsch, Yale School of Forestry & Daphne Yin, Research Assistant Lisa Dale, Associate Director Environmental Studies Alisa Zomer, Manager Anne Householder, Editors Yale School of Architecture Yale-NUS College Carlin Rosengarten Cory Nestor, Theodore Rosengarten Maria Ivanenko, Data Analyst Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Website Design and National University of Singapore Shreya Shah, Development Professor Alex R. Cook, Yale School of Architecture Habitat Seven Saw