Bangladesh is ranked the second worst country in curbing environmental pollution, an Environmental Performance Index (EPI) ranking report says.

The EPI ranking, published on the sidelines of the annual World Economic Forum meet in Davos on Tuesday, places Bangladesh on the second last among 180 countries – only ahead of Burundi.

The 2018 EPI Rankings. Rank, EPI score, and regional standing (REG, shown in color) for 180 countries. Photo taken from EPI website

“Low scores on the EPI are indicative of the need for national sustainability efforts on a number of fronts, especially cleaning up air quality, protecting biodiversity, and reducing GHG emissions,” the report posted on YaleNews website states.

The report added, the low scores in some countries can be attributed to weak governance.

Switzerland emerged the leading country in overall environmental performance with a score of 87.42. France, Denmark, Malta and Sweden were in the top five while the United States made it to the 27th rank. As regards air quality, India scored a mere 5.75, China 14.39 and Pakistan 15.69, and these “face a public health crisis that demands urgent attention,” according to the report released on Tuesday.

EPI rankings is a bi-annual report produced by researchers at Yale and Columbia Universities in collaboration with the World Economic Forum. To formulate EPI, several key factors are taken into consideration. A total of 24 indicators were evaluated and grouped into ten issues: air quality, water and sanitation, heavy metals, biodiversity and habitat, forests, fisheries, climate and energy, air pollution, water resources, and agriculture.