The US is far behind other industrialized nations on environmental performance and now ranks 24th in the world, according to a new analysis by Yale and Columbia universities. Denmark came in first place, followed by Luxembourg and Switzerland. The United Kingdom ranked fourth. The findings come as the Trump administration has continued to weaken environmental protections in a quest to relax rules on industry and expand fossil fuel development which threatens to put the country even further behind its peers.
“Countries that make an effort do better than those that don’t and the US right now is not making an effort. That shows up in a stagnation in the rankings where others are really seeing some significant improvements,” said Dan Esty, who directs the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy that co-produces the index.
“If you look at Denmark, they’re doing great but they’re a tiny fraction of overall carbon emissions or greenhouse gas emissions broadly,” said Zach Wendling, lead researcher on the index. “The US is one of the top five players in every greenhouse gas, so we need to do better than just OK if we’re going to generate the best practices.” In particular, the US scored poorly on protecting water resources and managing its waste. On wastewater, the analysis considers how much of wastewater is treated before it is released into the environment and how much of the population is connected to a sewage system. The US is doing poorly on both counts.
Source: Guardian
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