Iceland is the cleanest country in the world. This may be hard to believe right now, what with the clouds of volcanic ash grounding flights across northern Europe, but according to researchers at Yale and Columbia universities, the Nordic island ranks first out of 163 countries on their Environmental Performance Index.
Researchers ranked countries based on 25 indicators, including water and air quality, greenhouse gas emissions and the impact of the environment on the health of the population. (For more detail on the methodology, click here.) A score of 100 is excellent. Sierra Leone ranks at the bottom of the list with a score of 32. The U.S. ranks in the middle of the pack with 63.5. Iceland took top honors with a score of 93.5 thanks to ample clean water, lots of protected nature areas, good national health care and a plenitude of usually clean geothermal power.
Will Eyjafjallajokull wreck Iceland's rating the next time the academics run the numbers in 2012? The answer is no. "We do not score natural disasters," says Daniel Esty, a professor of environmental law at Yale who heads up the EPI and wrote the acclaimed book Green to Gold. The index is weighted to metrics that track how governments are performing relative to environmental policy goals, such as access to adequate sanitation and water, habitat protection and industrial emissions. The amount of sulfur dioxide released from fuel usage counts, not what's put out by volcanoes.
There are two paths that can take a country to the top of the EPI rankings. First, a country could be gifted with a rich endowment of clean water, diverse biology and not have sullied it with rampant industrialism. That's how Cuba, Colombia and Costa Rica placed so high.
Alternatively, a country could have industrialized and polluted its environment, but eventually gotten rich enough to start cleaning it up. That's the case with the European countries that make up more than half of the top 30.
1. IcelandEPI score: 93.5
GDP per capita: $36,000
Population: 311,000
In the category of air pollution (effect on humans), Iceland scored 97.4, compared with 84.8 for countries of similar GDP per capita.
3. Costa RicaEPI score: 86.4
GDP per capita: $9,600
Population: 4.5 million
That such a relatively poor and developing country ranks third in the EPI is testament to the natural endowments of Costa Rica, with dense forests, plentiful water and abundant wildlife. With smart development, Costa Rica can avoid the standard path that growing nations take of polluting their environment, only to clean it up again once they become wealthy. Costa Rica touts its EPI ranking in ads for its tourism sector.
2. SwitzerlandEPI score: 89.1
GDP per capita: $37,000
Population: 7.6 million
Switzerland scores a perfect 100 in forestry, water quality (effects on humans) and biodiversity and habitat. Like most rich, industrialized nations, its lowest scoring was in air pollution (effects on ecosystem).
4. SwedenEPI score: 86
GDP per capita: $33,400
Population: 9.1 million
Sweden has bragging rights, for the moment, among the Scandinavian states, where out-greening one another is a regional competition.
5. NorwayEPI score: 81.1
GDP per capita: $48,000
Population: 4.7 million
Norway is a nation of astonishing wealth, built on vast offshore reserves of oil and natural gas. The global warming impact of those fossil fuels is not debited from Norway's results, rather it is recognized in the nations that burn them.
6. MauritiusEPI score: 80.6
GDP per capita: $10,000
Population: 1.3 million
A tiny island nation in the Indian Ocean to the east of Madagascar, Mauritius is far and away the highest-ranking nation of Sub-Saharan Africa; Djibouti comes second with a score of 60.5. Isolation is its benefit, helping keep pollution low and attracting a tourist trade eager to enjoy healthy marine areas.
8. AustriaEPI score: 78.1
GDP per capita: $35,000
Population: 8.3 million
Neck and neck with France, Austria benefits in the rankings by being landlocked. With no fisheries to be evaluated, Austria's 100 score on biome protection gets a greater weighting.
7. FranceEPI score: 78.2
GDP per capita: $31,000
Population: 62 million
By far the most populous country in the top 10, France ranks very high in air and water quality and fisheries management. The EPI methodology benefits countries with significant nuclear power programs.
9. CubaEPI score: 78.1
GDP per capita: $8,500
Population: 11.3 million
Does Cuba prove that a communist idyll can also be an environmental one? Don't count on it. Researchers doubt the veracity of Cuba's data, which shows higher levels of public health, (including almost universal access to sanitation and clean water) than GDP would suggest. The average EPI score for Cuba's income peer group is 65.7.
10. ColombiaEPI score: 76.8
GDP per capita: $7,600
Population: 44 million
The poorest country in the top 10, Colombia's high ranking is due to the quality of its natural endowments. Its score for biodiversity and habitat, at 82.7 compares with an average of 51 for its income group. Colombia's carbon emissions are relatively low because of plentiful river systems feed enough hydropower generators to supply some 70% of electricity needs.
