The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: China’s Performance on the 2016 Yale EPI

Two of America’s most prestigious universities, Yale and Columbia, have been collaborating since 2006 to produce the biannual global Environmental Performance Index (EPI). The EPI looks at “…how well countries perform on high-priority environmental issues in two broad policy areas: protection of human health from environmental harm and protection of ecosystems.” While this is an abbreviated portion of the entire scope of environmental protection, it does give practical information that states can use to improve their impact on the Earth. The 2016 version, released in late January at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, did just this.

Not surprisingly, China’s performance wasn’t so hot. Even more surprisingly, it wasn’t all that bad either.

​As readers of John’s Little Green Book will know by now, the image of China as the world’s largest polluter, hell bent on destroying the Earth at all costs, is often far from the truth. The situation on the ground is much more nuanced. The EPI echoes this position. Below are the main findings on China, pulled directly from the report for ease of reference.
 
The Good

• Between 2006 and 2010, China has reduced its energy intensity by 19.1%.
• China is on track to meet its 2009 Copenhagen commitments to reduce carbon intensity 40-45% by 2020.
• Since the 1980s, China has installed 200 million improved stoves to reduce the amount of household indoor air pollution.
• Chai Jing’s landmark documentary, Under the Dome, featured prominently in the report as an indicator of awareness change among the Chinese populace.
• China has adapted the EPI to include a third area of analysis: economic sustainability. This reflects the country’s stated prioritization of green growth, innovation, and R&D.

 
The Bad

• China ranked 109 out of 180 countries surveyed, with a score of 65.1. This was an improvement on their 2014 ranking of 118. This places China 15th in Asia-Pacific, between Mongolia and Indonesia.
• “China has recognized its status as the world’s largest emitter of carbon emissions and has taken recent efforts to reduce its carbon intensity of economic growth.”

 
The Ugly

• One in five deaths in China, or 4,000 per day, are now attributable to air pollution. Poor air now ranks as the third highest risk factor for death in China.
• China provides the highest levels of government fossil fuel subsidies in the G-20. “Together, China and the United States accounted for a projected $3 trillion USD in 2015 energy subsidies.”

 
The jury’s still out on what this all means for a cleaner, greener China. Results do point to improvements in policy. More importantly, they seem to allude to Central Government policies that are actually being implemented. With it’s recent commitments during COP21, and very public announcements earlier last year, it will be interesting to see if sticking to policy implementation will be enough to move China higher on the coveted EPI list.
 
In the meantime, China’s chief environment minister has a word or two about his country’s environmental performance of late.
 
For more information, access the full 2016 report here.