Yale's 2016 Environmental Performance Index has ranked Luxembourg in 20th place out of a total 180 countries, with an overall score of 86.58 out of 100.

Each country's performance was tallied from "high-priority environmental issues" in the areas of protection of human health and protection of ecosystems, and from nine different sub-categories.

Luxembourg soared above the competition in terms of Biodiversity and Habitat, ranking number one with 100 for both National and Global Species Protection and Terrestrial Protected Areas. Its Wastewater Treatment also resulted in the high score of 99.30, ranking it third in this domain overall, whilst Water and Sanitation, which included considerations such as Unsafe Sanitation and Unsafe Drinking Water, culminated in a score of 98.57.

Although it also ranked #1 in total in terms of Household Air Quality, the sub-category of Air Quality itself was lower than the country' overall score at 82.54, placing it 83rd. In particular, its score for Air Pollution - Average Exposure to NO2 put it only seven places above the bottom of the list with a very low score of 22.75.

The country's lowest sub-category score (54.60) was in Agriculture, for which it received 0 for Nitrogen Balance against 72.79 for Nitrogen Use Efficiency. Climate and Energy however equalled out these low scores with 100 each for both Access to Electricity and Trend in C02 Emissions per KWH and 77.45 for Trend in Carbon Intensity.

All countries included, it was unsurprisingly Nordic countries which found themselves ahead, with Finland, Iceland, Sweden and Denmark claiming the top four spots, respectively. However, Norway found itself left behind by its Nordic neighbours, trailing in 17th place with 86.58 due to poor agricultural practices and high carbon emissions.

 

Picture by EPI Yale