HC Deb 07 January 2004 vol 416 cc359-60W
Norman Baker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs where the UK ranks in the Environmental Sustainability Index; and if she will list the rankings of other EU countries. [145146]

Mr. Morley

[holding answer 5 January 2004]: The UK ranks 91st internationally in the 2002 Environmental Sustainability Index compiled by the Global Leaders of Tomorrow Task Force of the World Economic Forum in association with the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and Columbia University. The rankings of other EU member states are shown in the following table. However, the UK and other countries believe this index is profoundly flawed and therefore potentially misleading, for the following reasons. It is an aggregated indicator which aims to weight together many components into a single overall measure of 'environmental Sustainability', an approach which as yet is not scientifically robust. The choice of components, and the way in which they are weighted together, is largely subjective. A different choice of components or weights would give different results, amply illustrated by the fact that the previous edition of this index, based on a different selection of components, placed the UK 16th.

Furthermore, there are still many areas where data are not sufficiently comparable between countries, or are simply not available. The values of many of the variables used to compile this index are imputed. It should also be noted that the variables used in this index tend to measure circumstances at a single point in time rather than trends or changes, therefore to the extent the index measures anything at all, it measures the environmental situation which a country faces rather than its progress or performance in improving environmental sustainability.

2002 ESI rankings by country
Rank Country ESI
1 Finland 73.9
3 Sweden 72.6
7 Austria 64.2
28 Portugal 57.1
31 Denmark 56.2
33 France 55.5
34 Netherlands 55.4
37 Ireland 54.1
44 Spain 54.1
50 Germany 52.5
60 Greece 50.9
84 Italy 47.2
91 United Kingdom 46.1
125 Belgium 39.1

Note:

Luxemburg is not ranked

Source:

Global Leaders of Tomorrow Task Force of the World Economic Forum in association with Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and Columbia University