Which countries are leading the effort to create strong economies that also reduce their degradation of the environment? Are these countries perceived internationally as having the “most-green economies”? These are the very questions addressed by a new index that evaluates the sustainability of economies throughout the world.

Scope: International

Intended Audience: Government, Businesses and Investors

Project by: Dual Citizen, a consulting firm based in the United States

Issue Addressed: The Global Green Economy Index evaluates the efforts of countries to create environmentally sustainable economies, focusing on efforts to invest in clean energy technology, sustainable forms of tourism, and improved domestic environmental quality.  It also seeks to capture how the performance of these countries is perceived internationally.

What to expect when you're expecting climate change?  Storms, floods, and water scarcity for starters.  The World Resources Institute has teamed up with global business partners to produce a digital, customizable water resource risk map.  The "Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas" will allow companies and conservation partners to identify and plan for current and proejcted water stress around the world.  The map tool uses sophisticated indicators to arrive at final risk profiles.

Scope: International

Intended Audience: Businesses and Investors

Project by: The World Resources Institute

Issue Addressed: Highlights water related challenges around availability, water quality, uncertainty in regulatory change, public awareness of water, and competition between different water users for businesses with large water needs.

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The Mesoamerican Reef stretches across 1,000 kilometers of Latin American waters, from Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula to the eastern shore of Honduras.  It is the Western Hemishpere's longest coral reef, and it is in trouble.  A new international initiative to chart and improve the health of this important ecosystem is now underway, and they are using a variety of health indicators to synthesize new science on the reefs and communicate their status to stakeholders and policy makers.

In response to growing consumer demand for environmentally responsible products, Walmart initiated a Sustainable Product Index program in early 2009 with the goal of examining its supply chains and creating an index that will rank products on multiple measures of environmental impact. 

In the early 2000’s, in response to concerns that China’s resource-intensive development patterns were particularly unsustainable, the Chinese Academy of Science created the Resource and Environment Performance Index (REPI) to assess how well China’s economy ranked in terms of “eco-efficiency” or environmental impact by GDP. In response to a low REPI score, China’s government has begun planning for a “Resource Efficient and Environment-Friendly (REEF) Society.”

Scope: Global

Intended Audience: Government

Project by: The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) via the United States Congress (environmental indicators developed by Columbia University’s Center for International Earth Science Information (CIESIN) and the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy (YCELP))

Issue Addressed: Program identifies countries to receive US foreign aid based on performance scores across a range of governance and economic criteria, including natural resource management.

Scope: National / Kuwait

Intended Audience: Government, NGOs, academia, civil society

Project by: Kuwait Environment Public Authority, UNDP Country Office in Kuwait and UNEP/ROWA in Bahrain 

Issue Addressed: Environmental quality of Kuwait’s natural resources including air and water quality, conservation areas, and wastewater

Scope: National / South Korea

Intended Audience: Government

Project by: The Ministry of Environment of South Korea

Issue Addressed: Treatment of waste

Scope: Provincial / Tonle Sap Lake and surrounding areas in Cambodia

Intended Audience: Government, international funders

Project by: Cambodian Ministry of Rural Development and the Asian Development Bank (ABD)

Issue Addressed: Sanitation and access to water in rural Cambodia

Scope: National / South Korea

Intended Audience: Government, NGOs, civil society

Project by: South Korean Ministries of Finance, Environment, Construction and Transportation, and Commerce,...