Ireland sixth in world sustainability rankings

Ireland has made significant strides in becoming a sustainable country, both in terms of its governance and its reduction in CO2 emissions, and now, according to a new report, Ireland is the sixth most sustainable country in the world.

The rather impressive findings, which rank Ireland ahead of countries like Denmark and even Germany, were compiled by investment firm RobecoSAM, which specialises in looking at how sustainable a market is from an environmental perspective.

The firm describe the reasoning behind its findings as a ranking that “recognises that a country’s ability to safeguard the needs of its future generations extends beyond the protection of the environment and encompasses a broader range of social, economic and governance objectives”.

This was then broken into three categories covering the actual environmental endeavours being undertaken in these countries, the cultural demand for a cleaner society (social) and government policy to limit carbon emissions.

The top of the list might not come as surprise to many with Sweden achieving the top spot followed by Switzerland, Norway, the UK, New Zealand and then Ireland, the latter of which received a 7/10 score compared with Sweden, which achieved 8/10.