The Environmental Performance Indicator (EPI), a list produced by Yale University and Columbia University, has revealed the scoring of 180 countries and their performance regarding Ecosystem Vitality (the protection of natural resource services) and Environmental Health (i.e. progress in air pollution or protection of drinking waters that can endanger human health if not considered). These two categories are divided into ten groups in total (such as Forest, Air Quality, and Water Resources), and in turn, these categories constitute 24 indicators altogether. For instance, Tree Cover Loss is an indicator for the Forest group (which is subcategorized under environmental health) and Waste Water treatment is an indicator for Water Resources (subcategorized under Ecosystem Vitality). Further explanations of the meaning of Ecosystem Vitality and Environmental Health can be found in the Methodology chapter. What the rankings show is how far away – or close – a country is from achieving environmental policy objectives. If a country scores low on the EPI scale, it needs to increase its efforts in several areas. Additionally, for some nations, improved stability in official institutions could also be of help. According to the 2018 EPI report, this year’s overall progress (which has been somewhat slow) is mostly related to environmental quality.

Switzerland leads the rankings for this year. Of the Former Soviet Union (FSU) countries, Turkmenistan ranked the highest (38th place) and performed well, especially with regards to Environmental Health indicators. Georgia was ranked 94th (an improvement from its 111th place in 2016), scoring higher in Environmental Health and lower in Environmental Vitality. Azerbaijan had the highest scores in Environmental Vitality and the worst in Environmental Health amongst all the FSU countries. Below are this year’s results comparing the top country with the performance of FSU countries.