Environmental Risk Index
A composite measure of national environmental vulnerability, emissions intensity, climate exposure, water stress, land-use pressure, air pollution, renewable energy transition, and ecosystem protection across 190+ markets — forming the Country Risk Index’s environmental dimension.
A representative selection of country scores across the environmental risk spectrum. The full 190-country dataset is available on subscription.
Lowest environmental risk
✓ Public| # | Country | Score | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sweden | 92.8 | Very Low |
| 2 | Finland | 91.9 | Very Low |
| 3 | Norway | 91.2 | Very Low |
| 4 | Denmark | 90.4 | Very Low |
| 5 | Switzerland | 89.6 | Very Low |
Highest environmental risk
✓ Public| # | Country | Score | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| 190 | Chad | 9.7 | Very High |
| 189 | Niger | 11.2 | Very High |
| 188 | Bangladesh | 12.6 | Very High |
| 187 | Pakistan | 14.1 | Very High |
| 186 | Haiti | 15.4 | Very High |
Full Environmental Risk Index · 190 countries
⬤ Subscription required| # | Country | Score | Emissions | Exposure | Performance | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Austria | 84.6 | 81.4 | 86.2 | 88.1 | ▲ 0.5 |
| 12 | New Zealand | 83.9 | 79.8 | 84.4 | 87.2 | ▼ 0.1 |
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Three buckets covering emissions, exposure, and environmental performance
The Environmental Risk Index combines emissions pressure, physical exposure to environmental stress, and policy or ecosystem performance into a single comparable country score.
Emissions
Total CO2 excluding LULUCF, total methane emissions excluding LULUCF, total nitrous oxide emissions excluding LULUCF, and total CO2 net fluxes from LULUCF excluding non-tropical fires.
Exposure
Population living below five metres, urban population share, level of water stress, and agricultural land as a share of total land area.
Performance
Forest area, air pollution exposure, renewable electricity production excluding hydroelectric power, and terrestrial protected area coverage.
How the Environmental Risk Index is built
The Environmental Risk Index is built from percentile-ranked indicators across three buckets. Higher scores indicate lower risk, stronger environmental performance, or lower exposure depending on the direction of each indicator.
Emissions Pressure
Captures the scale of greenhouse gas emissions and land-use emissions pressure, including CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, and LULUCF-related CO2 net fluxes.
Physical Exposure
Measures vulnerability to environmental stress through coastal low-elevation exposure, urban concentration, water stress, and dependence on agricultural land.
Environmental Performance
Assesses the extent to which countries protect ecosystems, limit pollution exposure, preserve forest cover, and transition electricity generation toward renewable sources.
Indicative sources: World Bank World Development Indicators, Climate Watch, FAOSTAT, UNFCCC, World Resources Institute, WHO air pollution data, IEA electricity data, UNEP-WCMC Protected Planet.
Get full access to the Environmental Risk Index
190 countries. Three environmental buckets covering emissions, exposure, and performance. Quarterly updates.