Environment
New environmental performance index highlights sustainability gains, and the challenges ahead
Key Points
European countries continue to lead the world in environmental performance, according to the 2026 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), a biennial assessment produced by researchers at the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy and Columbia Climate School's Center for Integrated Earth System Information (CIESIN). Yet, the new assessment finds that few countries are on track to meet the global goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and that progress has slowed across a range...
European countries continue to lead the world in environmental performance, according to the 2026 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), a biennial assessment produced by researchers at the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy and Columbia Climate School's Center for Integrated Earth System Information (CIESIN). Yet, the new assessment finds that few countries are on track to meet the global goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and that progress has slowed across a range of pollution control and natural resource management challenges.