VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canada’s environmental record outperforms a majority of comparable high-income countries around the world, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian policy think-tank.
“As Earth Day approaches, it’s important to acknowledge that Canada has an excellent environmental record when stacked up against the world’s richest, cleanest and most developed countries,” said Elmira Aliakbari, associate director of natural resource studies at the Fraser Institute and co-author of Environmental Ranking for Canada and the OECD.
The study ranks 33 high-income countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on a wide range of environmental indicators that relate both to the protection of human health, such as air pollution, and the preservation of Canada’s ecosystems, such as water quality.
Canada ranks 12th overall with a score of 67 out of a possible 100.0—above the OECD average (62.2). Notably, many of the top ranked countries are clustered closely together. For example, Canada and 2nd place New Zealand (which scored 74.7) are less than eight points apart. Sweden ranks 1st with a score of 80.
On some important measures, Canada ranks particularly high, including 1st and 4th best on two separate air quality measures, 4th best in fertilizer use and 8th best for low-emitting electricity production.
These results are especially impressive considering that, compared to the other OECD countries, Canada is much larger and colder (which means more fuel consumption and emissions) and has a large natural resources industry.
“The reality is most wealthy, developed countries have established sound environmental protection systems, and Canada compares favourably,” Aliakbari said.
“This Earth Day, Canadians can be proud of our environmental record.”
MEDIA CONTACT:
Elmira Aliakbari, Associate Director, Natural Resource Studies
Fraser Institute
To arrange media interviews or for more information, please contact:
Bryn Weese, Fraser Institute
Tel: (604) 688-0221 ext. 589
E-mail: bryn.weese@fraserinstitute.org
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The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institute’s independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org