European countries top ‘scorecard’ on climate progress while US slips to 27th

Tallinn is the capital and main governmental, financial, industrial and cultural centre of Estonia. Photograph: Karol Serewis/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images View image in fullscreen Tallinn is the capital and main governmental, financial, industrial and cultural centre of Estonia. Photograph: Karol Serewis/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images European countries top ‘scorecard’ on climate progress while US slips to 27th Estonia, Luxembourg and UK are the top three in biennial Yale University index in tackling pollution and other issues Much of the world has made encouraging strides in reducing toxic problems such as water and air pollution that have long plagued communities. But there is still a widespread lack of progress among countries in dealing with the climate crisis , according to the latest edition of an influential environmental scorecard. The biennial Yale University index again ranks Estonia as the best-performing of 177 assessed countries, after strong recent efforts to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and protect its ecosystems. Luxembourg is second, and the UK is third, having moved up from fifth place in the 2024 index. European countries dominate the top 20, with only Japan, in 16th, not situated in the continent. Australia is in 25th place, two places ahead of the US. Laos is the last-ranked nation, with the bottom three rounded out by India and Bangladesh. The environmental performance index, which has been produced periodically by Yale since 2002 and provided to the Guardian ahead of wider release, assesses countries on 47 environmental indicators, ranging from their success in reducing air and water toxins to the sustainability of their forests, fisheries and farmlands. Actions to reduce pollutants such as pesticides and planet-heating gases are also noted. Table of countries’ environmental performance Overall, the scorecard shows that there has been long-term progress in reducing various environmental hazards such as unsafe drinking water and the pollution that causes acid rain, although the world continues to dawdle in its response to the climate crisis, with few countries on track to meet their net zero emissions commitments. The gravity of the climate threat has been underlined with recent, deadly heatwaves in Europe and the US . “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,” said Daniel Esty, an environmental policy expert at Yale. “There’s progress on some issues but not enough progress on a critical set of issues like climate change. And there’s nothing like temperatures approach 40C in countries to help sharpen the focus on the need for a stepped up policy response.” The rapidly heating world is set to soon breach internationally agreed global temperature thresholds, beyond which will cause a further escalation in heatwav