A Critique of the Environmental Sustainability Index

The Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) has been proposed by collaboration of the
World Economic Forum, Geneva, Center for International Earth Science Information
Network, Columbia University, and Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, New
Haven as a measure of the overall state of the environment. This paper argues that the basic
design of the ESI leaves much to be desired. It has conceptual problems in its visualization of
environmental degradation and sustainability. The choice of variables as well as the statistical
methodology of compiling the index is also found to be wanting. The paper then proposes an
alternative methodology using Principal Components Analysis and argues that this is an
improvement upon the ESI methodology. Given the likely use of aggregate environmental
indexes in future environmental management, the critique advanced in this paper is of
considerable significance.