Oman has advanced six places to 110th rank in the Environmental Performance Index 2020, according to researchers at Yale and Columbia universities who produce the biennial scorecard of national results on a range of sustainability issues. 

Oman was ranked 116th in the 2018 Index. 

The sultanate may have improved its overall ranking but it is still placed 110th among 180 countries analysed in the Index on 32 performance indicators across 11 issue categories covering environmental health and ecosystem vitality. 

EPI 2020 features new metrics that gauge waste management, carbon dioxide emissions from land cover change and emissions of fluorinated gases – all important drivers of climate change. 

Israel (first in the region, 29th globally) and the UAE (second in the region, 42nd globally) rank above their MENA counterparts in EPI 2020. Other EPI leaders in MENA include Kuwait (47th globally), Jordan (48th), and Bahrain (56th). 

The lowest rankings in MENA go to Saudi Arabia (90th), Oman (110th), Qatar (122nd) and Sudan (130th).

The sultanate has done well when it comes to its ranking in Fisheries (17th globally), Fish Stock Status (ninth), Sulfur dioxide growth rate (first), Grassland loss (first), Species Habitat Index (second) andBiodiversity Habitat Index (seventh). 

Oman is among the worst performers when it comes to Ecosystem Vitality (150th) Biodiversity & Habitat (159th), Protected Areas Representati- veness Index (171th), Nitrogen dioxide growth rate (172nd), Black Carbon growth rate (172nd), Greenhouse gas intensity growth rate (152nd), and Greenhouse gas emissions per capita (168nd) among others. 

Denmark is ranked No 1 which reflects strong performance across nearly all issues tracked by the EPI. Other nations in the top tier include Luxembourg, Switzerland, the UK and France. 

India, with notably poor health outcomes from air quality and other environmental risks, comes in near the bottom of the rankings. China’s recent pollution controls have helped it climb to 120th place, 48 places ahead of India (168th).

The lowest scores of the report go to countries that are struggling broadly with weak governance, including Liberia, Myanmar and Afghanistan.