Yale Environmental Performance Index Shows Europe Leading While the United States Lags

The 2026 edition of Yale University’s Environmental Performance Index, covering 177 nations and 47 indicators, placed Estonia first, Luxembourg second and the United Kingdom third. European nations fill the top-20, with Japan the only non-European entrant at 16th. Australia ranks 25th, two spots ahead of the United States. Laos is last, and the bottom three positions are occupied by Laos, India and Bangladesh. China improves to 129th after removing many coal plants near major cities, yet still derives 56 % of its electricity from coal.

The Guardian

Esty, a Yale environmental policy expert, highlighted both progress and shortfalls. He noted that “air pollution has gotten a lot of attention in a number of countries and significant progress as a result, water availability, healthy drinking water is another issue that there’s a quick public payback to in the political world.” He added that “there’s progress on some issues but not enough progress on a critical set of issues like climate change.” Regarding Europe, Esty said, “Europe has really stepped out in front and is continuing to pursue climate change … they’re getting the payback for decades now of work on this issue at the cutting edge.” He warned that “the laggards in the US and China both are still lagging, seem to be falling further behind and are holding back the global community’s efforts to achieve the targets that have been agreed upon.” Finally, he cautioned that “it gets harder as you get to the later reductions of emissions that everyone needs to ultimately do to achieve a net-zero profile in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.”

The Guardian

The report underscores that the United States, despite recent policy roll-backs under former President Donald Trump, continues to fall behind other wealthy nations in emissions reductions. China, while improving its clean-energy capacity, remains heavily dependent on coal and scores poorly on marine conservation and biodiversity. The index also flags off-shoring of manufacturing and waste by rich Western countries as a hidden source of pollution for developing nations.

The Guardian

The leaderboard format appears to spur competitive action, with leaders from Denmark, Turkey, Oman and the Democratic Republic of the Congo consulting Yale researchers for guidance. Esty suggests low-cost options—such as cheaper solar and wind—are already being adopted, but stresses that sectors like air travel still rely heavily on fossil fuels, complicating the path to the 2050 net-zero goal.

The Guardian

• “Air pollution has gotten a lot of attention in a number of countries and significant progress as a result, water availability, healthy drinking water is another issue that there’s a quick public payback to in the political world,” — Daniel Esty, Yale environmental policy expert

The Guardian

• “There’s progress on some issues but not enough progress on a critical set of issues like climate change.” — Daniel Esty

The Guardian

• “Europe has really stepped out in front and is continuing to pursue climate change with not the full vigor it might have a few years back when the political circumstances were different, but they’re getting the payback for decades now of work on this issue at the cutting edge,” — Daniel Esty

The Guardian

• “The laggards in the US and China both are still lagging, seem to be falling further behind and are holding back the global community’s efforts to achieve the targets that have been agreed upon.” — Daniel Esty

The Guardian

• “it gets harder as you get to the later reductions of emissions that everyone needs to ultimately do to achieve a net zero profile in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050,” — Daniel Esty

The Guardian

• “With this kind of leaderboard very productive in spurring competitive efforts among leaders to do better, even the hardest of autocrats has called up for guidance,” — Daniel Esty

The Guardian