Green Assembly Asia Environment:Climate Change

(Adapted from description by Wikipedia: July 2008)

THE Environmental Performance Index (EPI) is a method of quantifying and numerically benchmarking the environmental performance of a country’s policies. This index was developed from the Pilot Environmental Performance Index, first published in 2002, and designed to supplement the environmental targets set forth in the U.N. Millennium Development Goals.

The EPI was preceded by the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI), published between 1999 and 2005. Both indexes were developed by Yale University (Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy) and Columbia University (Center for International Earth Science Information Network) in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.
The ESI was developed to evaluate environmental sustainability relative to the paths of other countries. Due to a shift in focus by the teams developing the ESI, the EPI uses outcome-oriented indicators, then working as a benchmark index that can be more easily used by policy makers, environmental scientists, advocates and the general public.

As of January, 2008 two EPI reports have been released - the Pilot 2006 Environmental Performance Index and the 2008 Environmental Performance Index. In the 2008 scorecard, the top three countries were Switzerland, Norway and Sweden.
Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan and Sri Lanka are the only Asian countries to be listed in the top 50 countries worldwide in 2008. Thailand is positioned number 53.

www.epi.yale.edu