India's rank in the Environmental Performance Index 2026 is hard to ignore. India is in a poor position on the global environmental sustainability rankings, scoring 22.46 out of 100. Only one country ranked lower than India. The data paints an unfortunate picture of Indian environmental sustainability. The nuance, however, comes when we look closer at the number; India has a positive 10-year change of 7.47 points in the EPI. While the country is struggling at the moment, India's environmental performance is positively trending for the long-term period measured by the index.
The Environmental Performance Index is the work of researchers at Yale University's Centre for Environmental Law & Policy, in collaboration with other research partners. The 2026 version evaluates 177 countries with 47 indicators grouped into 12 issue categories. The 47 indicators are grouped around three broad policy objectives: environmental health, ecosystem vitality, and climate change. EPI aims not to score countries on one particular environmental issue, but to give a better perspective on how the country is doing with multiple factors, including air pollution, biodiversity, forests, climate change, and other environmental issues.
India's overall score is important to put next to the countries in the South Asia region. In the EPI 2026, Bhutan ranks 52nd with a score of 47.74, Sri Lanka -- 94th with 39.58, Nepal -- 128th with 33.99, Pakistan -- 157th with 29.03, Maldives -- 171st with 25.06, and Bangladesh -- 175th with 23.46. India, with 22.46, is thus ranked eighth and last within the Southern Asia region. Southern Asia's regional average is 31.81, which is almost ten points higher than India's EPI score.
India's primary environmental issue is the quality of air. India is ranked 175th out of 177 countries in the Air Quality category with a score of only 7.89. The country's overall Environmental Health score, in a similar fashion, is low, as India ranked 174th with a score of 15.13. The importance of these two factors should not be understated for their impact on the citizens. Not only is pollution an issue for the environment, but it directly affects people's health, especially in the big cities and densely populated areas where the air can become quite polluted.
This can also be seen in the indicators used for the EPI. India ranks 166th for ambient PM2.5-related health impacts and 175th for carbon monoxide exposure indicators. The country is 164th for sulfur dioxide exposure. Multiple pollution-related causes need to be addressed for a country to improve its environmental position.
India's other environmental issues are biodiversity and natural habitats. The country is ranked 174th in the Biodiversity & Habitat category in the 2026 EPI, with a score of 9.09. India ranks 176th for terrestrial biome protection with a score of only 1.13. These numbers suggest that the country has a lot of work to do to preserve the existing natural habitats and biodiversity within its borders. At the same time, the 10-year change for India's Biodiversity & Habitat score is positive at 1.63, which means that this factor is not a problem for the country.
Climate change presents a complicated issue for the EPI and India's position within it. India is one of the world's largest greenhouse-gas emitters due to its enormous population, rapid economic growth, and high energy demand. Earlier reports from the EPI identified India as the world's third-largest greenhouse-gas emitter and reported that total emissions had grown by 32 per cent over the previous decade. The report linked the increase to rapid economic growth and industrialisation, which has increased demand for energy.
Coal is particularly important in understanding this issue. India's expanding economy requires enormous amounts of electricity, and historically coal has been a large part of the country's energy system. This creates a policy dilemma for the country. On the one hand, India needs more electricity to support its economic development, manufacturing, transport, and growing cities. At the same time, the reliance on fossil fuels puts a strain on the country's air quality and greenhouse gas emissions. The environmental issue is therefore deeply connected to a much larger policy question of how India can continue improving living standards while lowering the environmental impact of its economic growth.
There are, however, reasons not to write off India's environmental situation as a downhill slide. The EPI 2026 gives India a 10-year improvement of 7.47 points in its overall score. The Climate Change Mitigation category shows an even larger 10-year improvement of 13.98 points, although India's current score of 28.01 still leaves it ranked 130th globally in that category. The difference is informative because it helps us understand that while India is making progress in some areas, its overall environmental performance still needs improvement.
India's performance in forests provides a more mixed picture. In the 2026 EPI, India ranks 75th in the Forests indicator with a score of 17.97. The score is considerably higher than the EPI overall score, which suggests that environmental performance does not have to be uniformly bad across all categories. Some areas perform substantially better than others, which is why it is important to look further and not only at India's overall rank.
An important point is that the EPI should be read as a comparative indicator of environmental performance rather than an all-encompassing description of each country's environmental policies. The index aggregates multiple factors into one score, which means that a country can perform relatively well on one measure and poorly on another. India's ranking of 176th should be taken seriously, especially considering its poor performance in several areas, but the 10-year trend shows that the situation is not set in stone.
India's own environmental policies show an attempt to balance economic development and climate goals. Earlier EPI reporting mentioned the country's ambitions to generate half of its electricity from renewable sources and reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by 45 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030, with a longer-term goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2070. These goals do not negate the current environmental problems, but they illustrate that the country is working towards a lower-carbon development path.
The most interesting conclusion that can be drawn from India's 2026 EPI ranking is not that the country is near the bottom. The stronger conclusion is that India is performing poorly, but the country has signs of long-term improvement in its environmental performance. India's overall score of 22.46 is still far below the South Asian regional average of 31.81, and its position at 176th demonstrates the extent of the environmental challenge. Yet the positive 10-year change indicates that the situation has not been stagnant over the long-term period measured by the EPI.
India's environmental future will depend on whether this gradual improvement can be sustained and accelerated. Reducing air pollution, protecting biodiversity, improving ecosystem protection, and lowering the environmental cost of energy production will be particularly important. The situation is particularly complicated because India is simultaneously dealing with the needs of a huge population and a rapidly developing economy. For that reason, India's EPI ranking should be understood as both a warning and a progress report. The country has a long way to go, but its positive long-term trend suggests that its current position does not have to be permanent.
References:
- Yale Centre for Environmental Law & Policy. 2026 Environmental Performance Index — India and Southern Asia Results. Environmental Performance Index — India/Southern Asia
- Yale Centre for Environmental Law & Policy. About the 2026 Environmental Performance Index. 2026 Environmental Performance Index
- Yale Centre for Environmental Law & Policy. 2026 Climate Change Mitigation Indicator. Climate Change Mitigation — 2026 EPI
- Yale Centre for Environmental Law & Policy. 2026 Biodiversity & Habitat Indicator. Biodiversity & Habitat — 2026 EPI
- Yale Centre for Environmental Law & Policy. 2026 Forests Indicator. Forests — 2026 EPI