10 Most Environmentally Friendly Countries

Better luck next year, America
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 26, 2016 6:29 PM CST
The 10 Most Environmentally Friendly Countries on Earth
A Finnish lake, noticeably free of used prophylactics and empty Bud Light cans.   (Shutterstock)

You'll have to scroll pretty far down this year's rankings of most environmentally friendly countries before you get to the US at number 26. The rankings are courtesy of the 2016 Environmental Performance Index. TreeHugger reports Yale and Columbia have been putting out the study on how well countries "protect ecosystems and human health" for the past 15 years. "With the very survival of the planet at stake, we hope leaders will be inspired to act," says EPI co-creator Kim Samuel. The EPI ranks countries based on everything from biodiversity to sanitation to air quality. (It was forests and fisheries that dragged the US down.) Let's meet the top 10 most environmentally friendly countries:

  1. Finland
  2. Iceland
  3. Sweden
  4. Denmark
  5. Slovenia
  6. Spain
  7. Portugal
  8. Estonia
  9. Malta
  10. France
Get the full rankings here. (More environment stories.)

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