Iceland is considered to be one of the world’s most beautiful countries
because of the breathtaking nature, but they can still enjoy that due
to the high level of accomplishing the environmental policy goals.
People in Iceland use the geothermal energy very well, while the most
used electricity and heat source is the hydrogen. Believe it or not,
amazing 82% of the electricity and heat in Iceland comes from hydrogen
and geothermal sources, while only 18% comes from coal. The first place
for the
greenest country is well deserved.
Switzerland was leading the
EPI list years ago, but now has fallen to
the second place just due to incredible Iceland performance. However,
Swiss are still working hard for creating greener society. The
government has imposed a fee for disposing thrash in the country, but
the people are pretty interested for ecology as well. For example, there
are cities, smaller towns actually, in which using car is prohibited.
That’s how Switzerland remains on the top of this list for years.
Costa Rica government is strongly committed to following the
Icelandic example for use of renewable energy sources. They have set a
goal to become carbon neutral until 2021! The land suffered
deforestation for years in order to be made space for agriculture, but
now one of the main goals is reforestation of the country, planting over
five million trees over last five years.
4. Sweden, 86.0
One of the first things when visiting
Stockholm, Sweden, is noticing
the wide range of eco-friendly products. Nevertheless, the most
important thing that put them so high on the EPI list is the fact that
they are in advanced phase of the implementation of the plan for phasing
out the fossil fuel by 2020. Swedish government also is trying hard to
use the forests very well, as the sawdust of the lumber is used for
generating heat. These are just some of the indicators that make Sweden
on of the greenest on the world, but explaining all of them would take a
lot of space.
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Norway already feels the consequences of the global warming, as its
north parts are close to the melting Arctic, so they’re taking a lot of
measure to prevent any possible catastrophic scenario. Norway government
and the people as well, are making efforts to become carbon neutral
until 2030, although it is an oil export oriented country. They plan to
make diesel fuel more expensive than the eco fuels and stimulate people
to use the second ones.
....
6. Mauritius, 80.6
Maybe you will be surprised of the fact that one African Prime
Minister decide to make his country eco-friendly, but yes, it’s true.
Although the little island has very limited resources, they do not give
up.
Rama Sithanen’s cabinet is trying to find many ways for reuse items
through recycling. At this moment they rely on the water that surrounds
the island.
7. France, 78.2
The indicators that launched France so high on the EPI list are
increasing of use of eco fuels, conserving energy, increasing renewable
energy rate, increasing of organic farming, etc. In order to stimulate
the use of
eco friendly energy sources, the government also promoted
reduction of taxes for those who use solar panels. However, the most
interesting measure toward accomplishing their eco goals is the use of,
believe it or not, the straw bales for construction of buildings.
www.globalissuesat-cz.blogspot.com
Austria has no problems for being green so they decided to go step
further. They made a deal with the
government of Czech Republic for
building eco friendly garden across the border between the two
countries. The gardens contain herbs, fruit trees and flowers; they look
amazing, though they do not use any pesticides for maintaining it. For
the rest of the green country there’s no need to waste words.
9. Cuba, 78.1
Cuba has earned the same index as Austria mostly thanks to the
decreasing of the use of harmful and illegal pesticides on farms.
Allegedly, they try to lower the sea level in order to prevent the salt
water ruin the soil. However, their most ambitious project is the use of
clear hydroelectricity in the Guama area. The government makes efforts
to connect all of the homes in that area to hydroelectric station and
provide them all the electricity they need. Should that make success,
other projects will follow.
10. Colombia, 76.8
Most news we hear for Colombia are not good, so this including on the
Top 10 EPI countries is really refreshing. The government learnt the
lessons and finally decided to end the deforestation and stimulated a
lot of eco friendly projects. Constructors began using bamboo instead of
steel; a lot of national parks have been opened in order to be saved
the large number of endemic species, while the fashion designers have
also tried to raise the awareness about the green issues.
