What you need to know about environmental sustainability and social progress

As Earth Day approaches, we want to highlight the interconnectedness between social progress and environmental sustainability, which is fundamental to climate justice and climate action.

The Just Transition Score (JTS) precisely measures this connection, the environmental sustainability of social progress. It is an index that considers countries’ Social Progress Index (SPI) scores alongside their:

• Per capita carbon emissions
• Material footprint
• Biodiversity protection efforts.

These are the 15 countries that have the most environmentally sustainable social progress in 2022

Understanding the JTS score of each nation is crucial for several reasons:

Firstly, it offers a holistic view of a country’s progress towards their social and sustainable goals. We prove we can improve people’s wellbeing and reduce our impact in the environment.

Secondly, it enables decision-makers to identify best practices, encourage collective action, and learn from countries that lead in the Just Transition Score.

These are the countries that improved the most in their Just Transition Score ranking from 2011 to 2022

During this period, Croatia emerged as the top improver, surpassing 57 countries in 2022 compared to its position in 2011. Portugal and Italy also significantly improved their rank, with Portugal jumping by 30 places and Italy by 28 places.

Explore how your country performs in the Just Transition Score, or get more insights and download the dataset with premium access.

You can access more insights and visualizations with our suite of premium data insight tools.