Compiled by resources and Yale and Columbia Universities, the 2008 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) ranks 149 countries on 25 indicators tracked across six established policy categories: Environmental Health, Air Pollution, Water Resources, Biodiversity and Habitat, Productive Natural Resources, and Climate Change Change. The EPI identifies broadly-accepted targets for environmental performance and measures how close each country comes to these goals. As a quantitative gauge of pollution control and natural resource management results, the Index provides a powerful tool for improving policymaking and shifting environmental decisionmaking onto firmer analytic foundations.
There were some surprises on the list, such as the high placement of some of the Eastern European nations that are heavily industrialized, as well as the 12th place ranking for Canada. The EPI site has some great tools for manipulating this data and viewing in several different lenses – definitely worth a visit if you find this interesting.
The List: Cleanest as measured by the EPI
| Country | EPI score |
| Switzerland | 95.5 |
| Sweden | 93.1 |
| Norway | 93.1 |
| Finland | 91.4 |
| Costa Rica | 90.5 |
| Austria | 89.4 |
| New Zealand | 88.9 |
| Latvia | 88.8 |
| Colombia | 88.3 |
| France | 87.8 |
| Iceland | 87.6 |
| Canada | 86.6 |
| Germany | 86.3 |
| United Kingdom | 86.3 |
| Slovenia | 86.3 |
| Lithuania | 86.2 |
| Slovakia | 86.0 |
| Portugal | 85.8 |
| Estonia | 85.2 |
| Croatia | 84.6 |
Source: link to EPI site
