UAE ranks top in Middle East in leading environmental sustainability index

The influential index scores countries based on their environmental sustainability. Denmark topped the list while India came last. The UAE was ranked joint in 39th place globally (alongside Antigua & Barbuda) out of the 180 nations included.

The environmental performance index ranks countries on a range of indicators that consider the health of their environment, how they enhance or damage ecosystems and their efforts to combat climate change.

“High-scoring countries exhibit long-standing and continuing investments in policies that protect environmental health, preserve biodiversity and habitat, conserve natural resources, and decouple greenhouse gas emissions from economic growth,” the index report states.

The UAE scored 52.4 out of 100, which places it first out of 16 countries from the “Greater Middle East” category.

The score is based on 40 categories in total. For five of these categories, the UAE achieved a maximum 100 score. These were marine protected areas, wetland loss, household solid fuels, black carbon growth rate and CO2 from land cover.

The UAE all scored highly (80.3) for biodiversity, which averages performance across a range of categories, including some that look at how much of the country’s land habitats are in protected areas.

The report stated that UAE, Israel, and Singapore are all water-stressed countries that earn top scores in water resources. While wastewater treatment is a “bright spot” for these countries as they prepare for an increasingly water insecure future, sustainability researchers remain concerned by excess water consumption and the cost and byproducts of desalination.

The index is produced by the Yale Centre for Environmental Law and Policy at Yale University, and Columbia University’s Centre for International Earth Science Information Network.

The Environmental Performance Index is funded by the McCall MacBain Foundation and is published every two years.