A Plague on the Nation

By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 25, 2006; A05

New Zealand leads the world in meeting key environmental goals such as providing clean water and sanitation for its citizens, according to a study by researchers at Yale and Columbia.

The United States ranked 28th on the environmental performance survey being released Thursday as part of this week's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The U.S. ranking was hurt by its high greenhouse gas emissions, overuse of water and unsustainable agricultural practices, the researchers said.

Researchers assessed how close 133 countries came to reaching 16 environmental goals, including air quality, biodiversity and sustainable energy. New Zealand had a score of 88 percent, followed by six northern European nations that all got 84 percent or higher. The United States met 78.5 percent of the survey's environmental goals, while Niger ranked last, at 25.7 percent.

The index makes it possible to compare countries in similar regions or economic levels: Belgium lags behind the United Kingdom, for example, while Ghana far outpaces Nigeria.

"It's possible to shift to a more data-driven approach of environmental protection," said Daniel C. Esty, who directs the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and was a co-author of the report. "What is striking is that at every level of development, some number of countries are outperforming their peers."

The United States ranked below nearly every major country in Western Europe, although it outperformed Russia and several Eastern European nations, including Hungary and Poland. Malaysia and Japan had the best scores among Asian countries. In most instances, developing countries in Africa and the Middle East lagged behind more industrialized nations.

"Environmental sustainability is substantially a factor of income and the ability to invest in building environmental infrastructure," Esty said, adding that the United States' lackluster ranking shows that economic prosperity does not automatically translate into responsible environmental stewardship. "As Americans, we think we are great at everything. This shows that is not the case."

The United States did best in providing drinking water and adequate sanitation, while scoring poorly on fisheries and forest management. Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman Eryn Witcher said the administration has a strong environmental record.

"The United States has proven that environmental progress and economic success can go hand in hand using market-based solutions, innovative policies, and partnerships and was recently commended by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development for this pioneering approach to environmental protection," Witcher said.