‘Unscientific’: Centre rejects green index
NEW DELHI: The Union environment ministry has said the 2022 Environment Performance Index (EPI), an analysis by Yale and Columbia University researchers which ranked India at the bottom of 180 countries, is unscientific and biased in its methodology.
In a detailed rebuttal to the EPI analysis, the ministry said many indicators in the index were based on unfounded assumption “surmises, and unscientific methods”. Environmental and climate experts also said the methodology does not consider per capita emissions and different socioeconomic conditions across countries. .
EPI which ranks 180 countries on 40 performance indicators, including climate change, environmental public health, biodiversity, etc, ranked India at 180th claiming the country prioritised economic growth over environment. Denmark topped the ranking.
“The lowest scores overall go to countries that are struggling with civil unrest or other crises, including Myanmar and Haiti, or nations that have prioritized economic growth over environmental sustainability, such as India, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Pakistan. With markedly poor air quality and quickly rising greenhouse gas emissions, India, for the first time, comes in at the very bottom of country rankings. Poor air quality and rising GHG (green house gas) emissions continue to impact China’s EPI ranking, with the nation placing 160th out of 180 countries on the 2022 scorecard,” a statement by EPI said.
To buttress its case, the environment ministry pointed to a new indicator in the Climate Policy objective of EPI, Projected GHG Emissions levels in 2050. This is computed based on average rate of change in emissions of the previous 10 years instead of modelling that takes into account a longer time period, the extent of renewable energy capacity and use, additional carbon sinks, and the energy efficiency of respective countries, the environment ministry said.
Several independent experts also said they did not agree the methodology of computing EPI.
“...a few months back, India was ranked 10th out of 64 countries on Climate Change Performance Index by Germanwatch & CAN International @CANINTL. So, why such a significant difference? All these rankings are subjective. They use indicators to suit their worldview,” tweeted Chandra Bhushan, environmentalist and CEO of iforest Global.