A day after the Environment Performance Index (EPI) rated India as the worst sustainable country in a list of 180 nations, the Modi government has rebutted the claims.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, the index has many indicators based on unfounded assumptions. “Some of the indicators used for assessing performance are extrapolated and based on surmises and unscientific methods.”
The ministry categorically stated it “does not accept the analysis”, which has slammed India for its failure to bring down the emissions, air pollution and effectively manage waste.
The EPI 2022 released by the Yale Centre for Environment Law & Policy and Columbia University provides a data driven summary of sustainability in 180 nations. Using 40 performance indicators across 11 issue categories, the EPI ranks 180 countries on climate change performance, environmental health, and ecosystem vitality. The rankings have placed India at the bottom, with low scores across a range of critical issues. Deteriorating air quality and rapidly rising greenhouse gas emissions pose especially urgent challenges, it said.
Responding to these concerns, the government said historical data on the lowest emission trajectory has been ignored in the computation done by the agency.
The weight of indicators in which the country was performing well has been reduced and reasons for change in assignment of weights has not been explained in the report, it added.
India already achieved the target of 40% of installed electricity capacity from non-fossil fuel based sources, the government said, discussing its progress in fulfillment of its NDC targets.
Indicators such as agro biodiversity, soil health, food loss and waste are not included, even though they are important for developing countries with large agrarian populations, it said.
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