Pakistan climbs 22 places to 157th of 177 on the 2026 environment index

Pakistan has moved up 22 places to 157th out of 177 countries in the 2026 Environmental Performance Index, with a score of 29.03. In the 2024 edition the country ranked 179th.

The index is published by the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy. It scores countries on 47 indicators grouped into 12 issue categories, across three policy objectives: environmental health, ecosystem vitality and climate change.

What actually moved

A spokesperson for the Punjab environment department attributed the improvement to measures taken in the province: real time air quality monitoring, vehicle emissions testing, tighter environmental enforcement and industrial compliance work.

That is a fair claim about inputs. It is worth being precise about what the number does and does not say.

What a 22-place jump means. A move from 179th to 157th on a 177 to 180 country list is a move out of the bottom handful into the bottom fifth. A score of 29.03 out of 100 is a low absolute score. Rank movements at this end of the table can come from methodology changes and from better data reporting as easily as from cleaner air.

What it does not mean. It does not mean Lahore's winter air is better. The smog season runs from late October to January and is driven by crop residue burning, transport, brick kilns and industry, and it is measured by daily AQI readings, not by a biennial index.

Why the index matters anyway

Two practical reasons, both about money.

Trade. Pakistan cleared its fifth EU GSP+ review this week and must reapply by 31 December 2028. GSP+ is conditional on 27 international conventions, several of them environmental. Duty free access to the EU for Pakistani textiles, which earned $3.379 billion in July and August alone, rests on that. An improving environmental score is part of the file.

Climate finance. Access to concessional climate funding is argued for with exactly this kind of measurement. A country that can show its monitoring has improved has a better case.

What a reader can do about air quality

The practical steps before smog season are unglamorous and they work.

• Get the vehicle emissions tested. Punjab now runs testing stations, and a badly tuned engine is both a pollution source and a fuel cost. Check what your car actually returns with the fuel average calculator.
• Replace a petrol commute with something else where you can. Punjab is paying green credits worth Rs 20,000 for logging 75 kilometres of cycling through its tracker app.
• If you are considering rooftop solar, panel prices are steady at about Rs 29 per watt. The solar payback calculator will tell you how long yours takes to pay for itself.

The 2026 index puts a number on where Pakistan starts. The next reading is two years away.