Top 10 Eco-Friendly World Countries

Back in April, we wrote about the 15 greenest U.S. states. The list might be interesting for Americans, but how to we stack up against the rest of the world?

(HINT: Not so well.)

The Yale University’s Center for Environmental Law and Policy, and the Columbia University’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network ranked countries based on their Environmental Performance Index (EPI). The EPI evaluates policies in regards to environmental health, climate change, water resources, air pollution, productive natural resources, habitat, and biodiversity.

The top 10 countries of 2010 and their EPI scores are:

  1. Iceland (93.5)
  2. Switzerland (89.1)
  3. Costa Rica (86.4)
  4. Sweden (86.0)
  5. Norway (81.1)
  6. Mauritius (80.6)
  7. France (78.2)
  8. Austria (78.1)
  9. Cuba (78.1)
  10. Colombia (76.8)

The most eco-friendly region in the world is the Nordic region. Iceland, Sweden, and Norway all make the top 10 list, and Finland ranks 12th and Denmark 32nd.

It probably comes as little surprise to most of us that Europe has the highest overall EPI scores and Africa the lowest (with the notable exception of Mauritius).

It comes as little surprise that Europe has the highest overall rankings and Africa (excluding Mauritius), the lowest.

How did the U.S. compare? The United States ranked 61st on the list with an EPI score of 63.5. For a developed, wealthy country, this is disappointing. The U.S. didn’t even rank all that well in the Americas, let alone the rest of the world!

If you aren’t from the U.S. and your country was ranked, how did you do? Let us know in the comments below!

The full list is available here. Specific details were found by clicking on various countries/ regions.

 

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