The Environmental Performance Index: translating science for policy

Background/Question/Methods

Environmental law and policy must be informed by the knowledge generated in the environmental sciences. However, the science-policy interface is still poorly defined. The spectrum of mechanisms for translating science into policy ranges from collaborative efforts such as user-driven and applied research, to broadcasting findings through means such as interdisciplinary symposia, press outreach, and utilization of new media. These mechanisms, and most others, serve the purpose of putting knowledge in the minds of policymakers and the public, but in a strict sense, none are translations.  Translation is not merely the process of putting the right knowledge in the right minds; it is the conversion of knowledge from one form to another. 

Results/Conclusions

The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) is a unique effort to translate scientific knowledge and data into a useful policy tool. The EPI is a data-driven index that ranks countries based on their performance in ten policy categories including climate change and energy, biodiversity and habitat, agriculture, fisheries, and forests. A country’s performance in each policy category is quantified using on-the-ground data—transformed in to distance-to-target performance indicators—aggregated at the national level. Each indicator is weighted, using expert input, based on the quality and precision of the underlying data. For this reason, the initial work and later input of environmental scientists helps drive the EPI results.

 The final Index is an easily digestible snapshot of environmental performance. In this way, the EPI is a unique effort to take the products of scientific inquiry and use independent, interdisciplinary analytics to translate science into distinct policy-relevant information.