The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2026 puts Europe in the top 10 positions. The 2026 EPI ranks 177 countries on 47 environmental indicators across 12 issue categories representing critical sustainability challenges in environmental public health, ecosystem vitality, and climate change. The results for 2026 are as follows:
Category: Climate
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China issues action plan for carbon peaking during 15th 5-year plan period
China's State Council has issued an action plan for carbon peaking during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), outlining key tasks and measures to achieve the goal. By 2030, China's carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP will be reduced by 17% from the 2025 level, and the share of non-fossil energy consumption will reach 25%, according to the plan.
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United Nations: AI is threatening natural resources for billions
By 2030, AI's water use will match the needs of 1.3bn people while its power use triples that of 650m, a UN University investigation warns. It finds that AI is driving a surge in land, water and climate consequences cascading from the technology’s intense and fast-rising energy consumption. Consequently, the UN University scientists call for urgent, multi-stakeholder action in a new UNU-INWEH report.
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Oil and gas: set to increase production; ignore climate commitments
Major oil and gas companies are planning to "increase their upstream oil and gas production" according to new research published by the TPI Global Climate Transition Centre (TPI Centre) at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). The report analyses 22 leading global companies in two sectors critical to the low-carbon transition: 16 in oil and gas and six in diversified mining.
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Commission presents first EU strategies for islands and coastal communities
The European Commission has adopted two dedicated strategies, one for EU islands and one for EU coastal communities, setting out for the first time a coordinated European approach to support both types of territories and unlock their long-term potential. The two initiatives introduce a targeted approach, dedicated to the specific needs and unique challenges of: 17m people living on more than 4,000 islands across 16 EU Member States; and 95m people living along the 70,000km of EU coastlines and in coastal areas across 22 EU Member States.
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EU deploys largest ever wildfire response for 2026 summer
With wildfire risks rising across Europe, the European Commission is helping finance and coordinate the deployment of a record number of firefighters, aircraft and emergency experts under the Civil Protection Mechanism. 777 firefighters from 14 European countries will be strategically pre-positioned in high-risk areas across Cyprus, Greece, Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal.
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A path to €5k-a-month incomes for all countries within +1.8°C of warming
The World Inequality Lab has launched the Global Justice Report: a Plan for Equality and Prosperity Within Planetary Boundaries, during the opening of the World Inequality Conference 2026. The report sets out a new vision for global progress in the 21st century: grounding human development and equality in planetary habitability. It explores the conditions under which the world could move toward this horizon and traces an economically and ecologically consistent transition path from 2026 to 2100.
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WMO says: prepare for El Niño
Fuelled by unusually warm ocean waters in the tropical Pacific, El Niño conditions are developing and are set to influence global temperature and rainfall patterns, increasing the risk of extreme weather over the coming months, according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
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New WMO report says more global temperature records to come
Global average temperatures are likely to continue at or near record levels in the next five years, with Arctic temperature anomalies expected to continue to be higher than the global mean, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), produced by the UK’s Met Office. The Global Annual-to-Decadal Update also takes a look at the observed climate over the past five years and gives regional predictions for temperatures and precipitation over the next five years.
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British way of life under threat from heat, flooding and drought
The Climate Change Committee (CCC) has published A Well-Adapted UK. This new report sets out a comprehensive package of solutions to address the growing impacts of climate change affecting every aspect of life in the UK. The country’s independent climate advisors identify better cooling, flood protection and a more secure water supply as the most critical priorities to protect the UK from the three biggest climate risks – heat, flooding and drought.
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Commission: plan to secure Europe’s fertiliser supply and food security
The European Commission has adopted the Fertiliser Action Plan: an initiative to support farmers facing rising fertiliser costs and scarcity, reinforce domestic production and reduce Europe's dependency on imports. The Plan will directly help to ensure food security and reinforce Europe's strategic autonomy, while pursuing high climate and environmental goals.
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The world cannot wait any longer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz
The UK, alongside co-hosts South Africa, British International Investment and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, have convened a broad coalitions of partners, from governments, international organisations, business, technology philanthropy and civil society to rethink how to combine strengths in addressing global challenges, such as economic, climate and health shocks.
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Early climate health investments generate 68-fold gains
New World Resources Institute (WRI) analysis, supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, reveals that every $1 invested in preparing for climate-caused health risks can yield up to $68 in benefits for communities in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East. Research shows how tools and services like early warning systems and disease surveillance significantly reduce deaths and illness, helping more communities in low- and middle-income countries become more resilient.
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Record heatwaves while glaciers shrink and snow cover declines
Rapid warming in Europe is reducing snow and ice cover, while dangerously high air temperatures, drought, heatwaves and record ocean temperatures are affecting regions from the Arctic to the Mediterranean. Europe, along with many other regions of the globe, is exposed to increasing impacts – from record heatwaves on land and at sea, to devastating wildfires, and continuing biodiversity loss – with consequences for societies and ecosystems across Europe.
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War spending could help close the climate funding gap
Military spending has been increasing for more than a decade, reaching $2.7tr in 2024 and $2.88tr in 2025. Meanwhile, there is a $4tr dollar shortfall in funding needed to achieve the world’s Sustainable Development Goals and, of that, a $2tr funding gap for climate and energy transition action.