Finally, the 2014 EPI provides a new perspective on historical environmental performance and the impact of nationalhistorical time series data and applying the 2014 EPI framework and methods to environmental data from years past, the 2014 EPI presents “backcasted” EPI scores and ranks for all relevant issues has stressed that the methodology does not permit countries to view a change in their rankings as a sign of improvement provides the tools to compare current performance with historic performance.
WHY MEASUREMENT MATTERS The EPI was born out of a recognition that environmental policymaking lacked 7 – to ensure environmental sustainability development on the global policy agenda, that particular goal lacked relevant or dependable metrics.1 To address this gap, the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy (YCELP) and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) at Columbia University partnered with the World Economic Forum to develop indices assessing environmental sustainability (the Environmental Sustainability Index) and environmental performance (the EPI). Both were created with an eye toward shaping data-driven environmental policymaking. The need for better data and metrics to to guide decisionmaking could not be 1
more urgent. Effective environmental policy is burdened by two related hurdles, both of which are lowered by better measurement. First, environmental policy debates are subject to deep divisions over the best way forward. Second, substantial uncertainty surrounding the nature of environmental problems
environmental measurement can inject more objectivity in environmental policy debates, reducing disagreement on the scope of problems and focusing it instead on solutions. Robust measurement also gives policymakers a foundation from which to promote environmental policy. When policymakers use data to reduce uncertainty, they can advance policy objectives with more than educated guesses or hunches. The trend of using data, and increasingly “big data,” is becoming a common business and government practice. Large corporate entities collect consumer information to better target advertisement campaigns. Government leaders like former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg based management decisions on data as diverse as the number of heart attacks and noise complaints.2 The business sector has long understood that data can make the invisible visible, and it has used metrics to improve performance. A business collects data and will make changes depending on its indicators have likewise been proven as useful tools in helping policymakers more
World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Leaders for Tomorrow Environment Task Force, Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy (YCELP)/Yale University, and Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN)/ Columbia University, (2000) 2000 Pilot Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI). NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC), Palisades, NY. Available: http:// sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/data/set/esi-pilotenvironmental-sustainability-index-2000. Last accessed: December 29, 2013. 2 Feuer, A. (2013) The Mayor’s Geek Squad. The New York Times. 23 March 2013. Available: http://www.nytimes. com/2013/03/24/nyregion/mayor-bloombergs-geek-squad.html. Last accessed: December 29, 2013.
15 2014 EPI