Cyprus is among the top five countries with the most positive contribution to the planet and climate, according to the Good Country Index.
The Index aims to measure the impact a single country has on the wider world, such as its ecological footprint relative to the size of the economy and the percentage of renewable energy used.
In total, 153 countries were included in the Index.
To give Cyprus its ranking, the Index took into consideration the following:
- The ecological footprint Cyprus has relative to the size of its economy
- Its compliance to multilateral environmental agreements on hazardous waste and other chemicals and obligations in transmitting information as required by each relevant agreement
- Its exports of hazardous pesticides relative to the size of its economy
- The share of renewable energy in the total final energy consumption of the country
- Its consumption of ozone-depleting substances relative to the size of its economy
“In our age of advanced globalisation and massive interdependence, everything sooner or later, has an impact on the whole system,” said Simon Anholt, an independent policy advisor who founded the index. “I wanted to create the first index that measured the external impact of each country on the whole of humanity, the whole planet, outside its own borders.”
The country with the most positive contribution on the planet and climate was Norway, followed by Switzerland, Portugal and Slovenia.
