Many regions around the world are making encouraging progress in reducing harmful problems such as water and air pollution that have long plagued local communities. However, the latest edition of the influential Environmental Scorecard shows that countries continue to lack widespread progress in tackling the climate crisis.
The biennial Yale University index once again ranks Estonia as the best-performing country among the 177 countries evaluated, following strong recent efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect ecosystems. Luxembourg came in second place, followed by the United Kingdom in third place, moving up from fifth place in the 2024 index.
European countries dominate the top 20, with Japan in 16th place being the only non-continental country. Australia ranks 25th, two places ahead of the United States. Laos is in last place, with India and Bangladesh in the bottom three.
The Environmental Performance Index, produced regularly by Yale University since 2002 and provided to the Guardian before it is widely published, evaluates countries on 47 environmental indicators, ranging from success in reducing toxins in the air and water to the sustainability of forests, fisheries and farmland. Efforts to reduce pollutants such as pesticides and global warming gases are also attracting attention.
Table of environmental performance of each country
Overall, the scorecard shows that long-term progress has been made in reducing a range of environmental hazards, such as unsafe drinking water and pollution that causes acid rain, but the world continues to lag behind in addressing the climate crisis, with few countries on track to meet net-zero emissions commitments. The seriousness of the threat of climate change has been highlighted by recent deadly heatwaves in Europe and the United States.
“Air pollution is getting a lot of attention in many countries, and we’re seeing great progress as a result. Water availability and healthy drinking water are also issues that are rapidly gaining public attention in political circles,” said Daniel Esty, an environmental policy expert at Yale University.
“While progress has been made on some issues, sufficient progress has not been made on a range of important issues such as climate change. And the closer countries approach 40°C, the less attention is given to the need for stronger policy responses.”
Scientists warn that a rapidly warming world will soon surpass internationally agreed global temperature thresholds, beyond which heat waves, storms, droughts and conflicts will become more intense. The ongoing El Niño phenomenon is increasing temperatures in many parts of the world and is almost certain to break global annual temperature records over the next four years.
Despite this worsening situation, several countries, particularly the United States under President Donald Trump, have recently scaled back efforts to combat the climate crisis. Yale’s index uses data through 2024, capturing the final part of President Joe Biden’s term rather than the Trump administration, but it finds that even then it will be too late for U.S. emissions declines to reach net zero by 2050, as the science demands must be met to avoid catastrophic climate change.
China, which is now the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide after the United States, has made great strides in developing its clean energy sector, but the scorecard found that China still gets 56% of its electricity from coal, the dirtiest of fossil fuels, and has a relatively poor track record on ocean protection and biodiversity management, according to a Yale University report.
A large machine stacks imported electrified coal that has just been unloaded from a cargo ship at a coal terminal in Lianyungang Port, China, June 20, 2026. Photo: CFOTO/Future Publishing/Getty Images
The UK report cited areas for progress including protecting land and water biodiversity, reducing indoor and outdoor air pollution, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, the report warns that the country’s ranking is relative to other countries, not absolute, and that it remains below the required level, citing problem areas such as significant loss of tree cover, bottom trawling and fertilizer use.
“Europe has really taken the lead and continues to pursue climate change with the same vigor it had a few years ago when the political situation was different, but we’re reaping the rewards of decades of being at the forefront of this issue,” Esty said.
“Both laggards, the United States and China, remain behind and appear to be falling further behind, hampering the international community’s efforts to achieve agreed goals.”
However, China has moved up slightly to 129th place, having previously ranked near the bottom, as many of its major cities suffer from dangerous air pollution. It has since removed many of the coal-fired power plants near cities that caused these problems. The Yale index also ranks India lower on tree cover loss, risk of pesticide contamination, and marine protection than previous indexes. “For a country that aspires to be a world economic leader, India is doing surprisingly poorly,” Esty said.
The environmental index reads like a league table, with the world’s richest countries at the top and poorer countries unable to invest in sanitation and new clean energy projects languishing near the bottom. The Yale researchers acknowledged that there is an additional problem in that wealthy Western countries offshore much of their manufacturing and waste to developing countries, thereby shifting the burden of pollution overseas and not caring about it.
But Estee said many countries are adopting lower-cost options to reduce emissions, such as expanding renewable energy, as the cost of solar and wind power has come down. But he added that “the emissions reductions that everyone will ultimately need to make to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 will become more difficult the closer we get to later targets,” adding that sectors such as air travel remain overly reliant on fossil fuels.
Aerial view of recently built new homes with solar panels on Skeleton Lake, Leeds, UK, December 10, 2025. Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
There are also some notable differences between wealthy countries. While the U.S. generally lags behind other wealthy countries in the rankings, and aside from the U.K., Europe performs relatively poorly on agricultural sustainability, Esty said, although the U.K. “has done a pretty good job outside of Europe of repurposing agricultural subsidies to support sustainability.”
Esty said the scorecard, which summarizes the work required at scale, is valuable because it helps producing countries outperform their regional neighbors. Leaders from countries such as Denmark, Turkey, Oman and the Democratic Republic of Congo are among those who have spoken with Yale researchers in recent years about how they can improve their scores, he added.
“This type of leaderboard is so productive in encouraging competitive efforts among leaders to achieve better outcomes that even the most stubborn dictators seek guidance,” he said.
