Seychelles has ranked first in the Sub-Saharan region and 38th out of 180 countries in the Environmental Performance Index (EPI), a method of quantifying and numerically marking the environmental performance of 180 countries compiled by researchers at Yale and Columbia universities.

In the 2020 EPI, a biennial scorecard of national environmental performance on a range of sustainability issues, Seychelles ranked 38th with a score of 58.2 out of 100, performing above the regional and world average in almost all indicators. This indicates Seychelles’ strong environmental performance as a result of sustainable policy agendas and good governance. Denmark has ranked first in the world, followed by Luxembourg and Switzerland in the top 3 countries as a result of strong results across most issues and leading commitments and outcomes with regards to climate change mitigation.

Now in its 22nd year, the EPI report has become the premier metrics framework for global environmental policy analysis, ranking 180 countries on 32 performance indicators across 11 issue categories covering environmental health and ecosystem vitality. The 2020 EPI features new metrics that gauge waste management, carbon dioxide emissions from land cover change, and emissions of fluorinated gases; all important drivers of climate change. The findings were released last month.