The small European country is known for its high scores in biodiversity and habitat and water resources. Luxembourg has made significant progress in protecting its environmental health despite its rapidly growing population and GDP. Switzerland is the third-most eco-friendly nation in the world. With an EPI of The country is also one of the top recyclers in the world. The U. The country also ranks second for climate change and first for pollution emissions.
These rankings are quite impressive, considering the U. France has a perfect for water sanitation and pollution emissions. The country also ranks fourth for climate change and fifth for biodiversity. France has several environmental initiatives in place, such as using hydro turbines along its rivers and banning its supermarkets from throwing or destroying good quality unsold food. Austria has some of the strictest standards in Europe for waste management, chemicals, and air pollution.
Agricultural regulations are also stringent, specifically for pesticides and fertilizers. These regulations allow Austria to have a for drinking water and pollution emissions. This shows that many economies are prioritizing this area of sustainability.
Each section is weighted differently, and is reflected as a percentage within the index. Infrastructure costs are one reason why wealthier nations tend to fare better across sustainability measures. Everything from air pollution reduction and water treatment, to hazardous waste control and mitigation of public health crises are especially expensive—but have a huge potential impact on citizens.
This trend can be seen the scatterplot, which demonstrates the distribution of economies evaluated by the EPI:. For a more detailed look, the table below highlights the GDP per capita of each of the top 40 greenest countries, based on data from the World Bank and Statista:.
Despite the strong correlation between GDP per capita and EPI score, developing countries do not have to abandon sustainability efforts.
China for instance leads the world in the adoption of electric vehicle technology. Although some rankings can seem prosaic, indexes like the EPI provide a helpful benchmark for economies to compare efforts. CO2 emissions, for instance, are a major driver of climate change. However, the EPI shows that investments have impact. High-level sustainability efforts—political commitment, media coverage, regulations—can deliver results, even at the grassroots level.
This was originally posted on Elements. Sign up to the free mailing list to get beautiful visualizations on natural resource megatrends in your email every week. Tesla has reigned supreme among electric car companies, ever since it first released the Roadster back in It also plans to build six battery factories in Europe by and to invest globally in charging stations.
GM, the largest U. The company is making a big push into pure electric vehicles, with more than 30 new models expected by The American carmaker has laid out plans to invest tens of billions of dollars in electric and autonomous vehicle efforts in the coming years. When it comes to electric car company brand awareness in the marketplace, Tesla still surpasses all others.
In fact, more than one-fourth of shoppers who are considering an EV said Tesla is their top choice. Tesla recently surpassed Audi as the fourth-largest luxury car brand in the United States in BloombergNEF expects annual passenger EV sales to reach 13 million in , 28 million in , and 48 million by , outselling gasoline and diesel models 42 million.
More companies are declaring net-zero emissions targets, but where can they start? Find out the steps companies and investors can take.
To help prevent the worst effects of climate change, a growing number of companies are pledging to achieve net-zero emissions by In fact, the percentage of companies declaring a net-zero target nearly doubled from to With urgency building, how can companies and investors approach net-zero emissions? The above infographic from MSCI highlights the steps these two groups can take, from defining a strategy to reporting progress.
Setting a net-zero emissions target means reducing carbon emissions to the greatest extent possible, and compensating for the remaining unavoidable emissions via removal. To begin, companies can measure current emissions and identify priority areas where emissions can be reduced. For example, ABC chemical company determines that its greenhouse gas GHG emissions far exceed those of its competitors.
They can then map out a strategy to curb climate risk. XYZ decides to lower its transition risk by aligning with a 1. With a strategy set, companies can pledge their net-zero emissions commitment and set interim goals. They can also specify how their pledge will be achieved. The UK ranks rather low for its forests and fisheries at nd place for both and scores of 6. Luxembourg has recently used its influence in the financial sector to accelerate global sustainable investment.
It ranks fifth for both water resources It also scores above 90 for water and sanitation Luxembourg can improve its ranking for forests 77th , climate and energy 52nd , agriculture 50th and air pollution 49th.
It protects and conserves the waters of the Danube River and its tributaries that flow from four other countries. Austria ranks third for agriculture Ireland declared a climate emergency this May and it was the first country in the world to divest from fossil fuels in Ireland scores first place for its water and sanitation at points.
It also scores above 90 for environmental health Ireland can rank better when it comes to forests th and climate and energy 72nd. Finland ranks first place overall for environmental health It also ranks sixth for air quality It also has a very high score for water resources Like Sweden, Finland is heavily involved in the timber industry trade, which negatively impacts its large boreal forests. It can also improve its air pollution, which is ranked 91st. Healthy Human supports a sustainable future for our planet on all countries.
Join us by proudly toting one of our reusable water bottles or tumblers. Hoffner, E. Wendling, Z.
0コメント