Believe It Or Not, Malta Has Been Ranked The Fourth Greenest Country In The World
As Malta continues to tear down trees, some which were deemed hazardous, and some that were just in the way, Yale University and Columbia University, in collaboration with the World Economic Forum, have deemed Malta the fourth greenest country in the world.
The Environmental Performance Index for 2018 ranks 180 countries on 24 performance indicators across ten issue categories covering environmental health and ecosystem vitality. While some results make sense – Switzerland nabbed the top spot, and Burundi came in last place – Malta beating countries like Sweden and Austria might come as surprise.
The EPI judges countries on how close they are to meeting the environmental policy goals found in the United Nations 2015 Sustainable Development Goals as well as the Paris Climate Agreement.
The EPI looks into these 10 categories
- Air Quality
- Water & Sanitation
- Heavy Metals
- Biodiversity & Habitat
- Forests
- Fisheries
- Climate & Energy
- Air Pollution
- Water Resources
- Agriculture
Malta actually performs well in many of these categories, especially the Heavy Metal and Water & Sanitation categories. Malta achieved an EPI score of 80.9. Sweden, who came in next place, achieved a score of 80.5.
It’s good to know Malta achieved such a high ranking in the same week that a Maltese environmental group pledged to start buying ODZ land to save it from being developed, and just months after an Imqaret kiosk appeared in the wild fields of Si??iewi.
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