GLOBAL CLIMATE DEBATE

EPI Ranks Iceland "Greenest" Country, Worldwide

Iceland wins when it comes to being green.

The nation scores highest in a global environmental performance index from Yale and Columbia Universities.

The U.S. fell 22 spots to number 61.

Switzerland comes in second after Iceland, followed by Costa Rica, Sweden and Norway.

The index looks at categories including environmental health, air quality, water resource management, biodiversity, agriculture, climate change and more.

It gets date from the World Bank and the United Nations' Development Program, Food and Agriculture Organization, and Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Clean Skies was in Iceland researching its hydroelectric and geothermal systems.

Iceland gets close to 100% of its electricity from renewable resources and has the largest percentage of geothermal generation in the world in 2008, according the Energy Information Administration.

The U.S. fared poorly on greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution in the report, however all data was collected before 2009 so no initiatives from the Obama administration were included.

The results  are being presented today at the economic forum in Switzerland. The full report can be found here.

Source: Christian Science Monitor

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