Yale University Press Release, January 26, 2001

The United States ranks 11th in environmental sustainability, according to a 122-nation study based on a model that was developed at Yale University. The study, sponsored by the World Economic Forum, will be released at the forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, Jan. 25.

In addition, Finland, Norway and Canada are the top nations in environmental sustainability, according to the study, which was also sponsored by a grant from the Samuel Family Foundation.

The study's findings were based on the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI). The ESI examines 22 key factors that contribute to environmental performance and results, such as urban air quality, overall public health and environmental regulation. It measures these factors against 67 quality-of-life variables, such as levels of sulfur dioxide in urban air, the infant mortality rate and the percentage of land protected from development.

"The ESI makes it possible to benchmark environmental performance and will allow lagging nations to identify where and how they can improve their pollution control and natural resource management efforts," said Dan Esty, project director for World Economic Forum and director of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy.

"The ESI represents a first step toward a new approach to pollution control and natural resource management where decision-making will be substantiated by data, facts, and analytic rigor rather than emotion and rhetoric," Esty added.

Esty, who designed the methodology employed in constructing the index, said the U.S. lags in curbing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change and reducing waste and consumption. Conversely, the U.S. is strong in the areas of controlling water pollution and allowing for robust environmental policy debate.

The study was conducted by the Yale University Center for Environmental Law and Policy which is a joint venture between the Yale Law School and the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Earth Institute's Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) at Columbia University, and the Global Leaders for Tomorrow Environment Task Force of the World Economic Forum.

The ESI is the most comprehensive global report on the state of the environment. It was created to satisfy a critical need for substantive, impartial data for the global, environmental decision-making. Every country on the planet points to the impact that environmental quality has on citizen welfare, land productivity and overall social health. But until now, there has been no concrete way to scientifically examine performance and compare progress toward environmental goals.

Comparable to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a central indicator for health of a country's economy, the ESI distills the health of a country's environment to a single number ranging from1 to100. Much like a cumulative grade point average for the environment, this number represents a country's environmental success--its ability to sustain human life through food resources, a safe environment, to cope with environmental challenges and cooperate with other countries in the management and improvement of common environmental problems. The top country, Finland, registered 80.5 and the bottom country, Haiti, was at 24.7. The United States stood at 66.1.

"The ESI also shows that economic factors are important but not determinant in environmental success," Esty said.

Esty noted that Belgium and Sweden have similar GDP per capita income, but are ranked widely apart by the ESI. Belgium has a $23,223 GDP/capita income and registered 44.1, compared to Sweden with a $20,659 GDP/capita income and a 77.1 ranking.

"This strongly suggests that the traditional theory that a tradeoff exists between economic and environmental success is wrong. One need not get dirty to get rich."

Esty said one of the surprising results was the fact that of the 67 variables, corruption was the one that most highly correlated with environmental success, suggesting that countries with low rates of corruption are better able to manage pollution control and challenges to natural resource management.

Esty added that a country's social and economic structureshow well it enforces the rule of law and property rightsas well as its regulatory structures, are the underpinnings for environmental success.

"The ESI represents a huge opportunity for environmental gain worldwide. In particular, it is a fact-based foundation for environmental decision-making that promises to bridge some of the divides that have made environmental progress so difficult in recent years."
 

2001 Environmental Sustainability Index Presented in Davos, Switzerland
 

Contact Barbara Ruth, Center Administrator, Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy
 
 
 

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