Is Canada flunking climate? The picture isn’t great, but there might be a way out

Also: Sunken Nazi warships resurface

Welcome to our weekly newsletter where we highlight environmental trends and solutions that are moving us to a more sustainable world.

Hey, it’s Mitchell. I think it’s fair to say Canadians are the type to check our grades against our classmates — we love comparing ourselves. So when I saw Yale University’s Environmental Performance Index rankings in July, it felt like a bad report card. A bit surprised, I thought I should look into how Canada’s doing on environmental scorecards and its capacity to improve. We certainly aren't getting an A.

Canada ranked second last in climate and environmental performance among "Global West" countries and 29th in the world, according to the Environmental Performance Index (EPI), released in July by the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy, the Yale Center for Geospatial Solutions and Columbia University.

The ranking uses 47 environmental indicators from growth of carbon emissions to rates of habitat protection compiled from datasets published between 2022 and early 2026.

EPI lead researcher Zach Wendling told CBC News the index aims to arm people with data to spark deeper conversations and hold their governments accountable.

Canada scored 57.78 out of 100. The average score among 22 “Global West” countries was 64.74 and the global average (177 countries) was 39.57. The highest score went to Estonia, at 74.79, helped by significant cuts to greenhouse gas emissions from shale oil power generation.

Wendling said Canada was weakest in climate change, protected lands and fishing.

Canada ranked 45th on the EPI’s overarching category for climate change policy, which includes indicators related to emissions trends, such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen monoxide. Canada ranked 133rd in greenhouse gas emissions trend per capita. The score of 24.26 was well below a “Global West” average of 44.87, but was 7.65 points better than Canada would have done 10 years ago, according to the EPI’s calculations.

Wending said many of Canada's scores in marine and terrestrial habitat protection and emissions trends have increased. Though the improvements were small, he said this “shows that change is possible."

Canada’s worst ranking was 162nd in the risk to biodiversity from pesticide pollution in agriculture.

How other countries are doing better

Estonia earned top honours on the EPI due mainly to cutting down shale oil power generation, which brought down the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent, according to the EPI’s report. The country has set a target to use only renewables for electricity by 2030 and be carbon neutral by 2050.

“For years, we've been pushing countries to pick the low-hanging fruit,” Wendling said. “Shutting down your dirtiest and oldest generation technology would be like an apple the size of a beach ball right at your knees.”

Wendling said Estonia’s massive climb — equivalent to 23.22 points over 10 years — is a one-time outlier, so they need to reach higher. Their lowest scores came in fishing, agriculture and forestry-related indicators.

Other strong performers include Denmark (eighth on the EPI) and Norway (11th). Denmark scored well on most emissions indicators while Norway was a leader in environmental health and preventing grassland conversion.

Debora Van Nijnatten, a professor in environmental and net zero policy at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont., said EU countries likely fare better on scorecards because they have strong statutory frameworks and regulatory standards surrounding the environment.

The European Green Deal includes a Climate Law that mandates carbon neutrality by 2050 and goals to reduce emissions by 35 per cent by 2030 and 90 per cent by 2040. The EU also has an emissions trading system and a Net-Zero Industry Act.

‘A lof of room for improvement’

Wendling pointed out two-thirds of countries listed on the EPI have made improvements over the past 10 years. However, even among the top countries, “there's still a lot of room for improvement.”

This is the latest in a run of bad climate results for Canada, which came 61st out of 76 countries on the 2026 Climate Change Performance Index and scored a rating of "highly insufficient" in Climate Action Tracker’s November 2025 report.

Since the data was compiled for the latest EPI rankings, Prime Minister Mark Carney has nixed the consumer carbon price and said emissions will rise. According to the Canadian Climate Policy Inventory, more policies ended or allocated their funding than were introduced in 2025.

Van Nijnatten said she would not be surprised to see Canada’s scores fall on the EPI and other scorecards in the next few years.

She added Canada was a leader on climate change previously but now, it needs to set new goals.

“We're in a climate policy transition period,” she said. “We get some faint outlines of what the Carney government would like to focus on, but it's not clear what that new strategy is going to look like yet.”

The EPI researchers do not prescribe solutions for boosting countries' rankings but Wendling has one overarching suggestion.

“The one-size-fits-all advice we can give to countries is to make policy-making more data-driven.”

Old issues of What on Earth? are here. The CBC News climate page is here.

Check out our podcast and radio show. From the best of What On Earth: Wildfire smoke has choked Canadians across the country this summer. Air purifiers are expensive, but there’s a cheaper way to clean your air indoors. We visit a workshop teaching seniors in Vancouver’s Chinatown to build DIY air cleaners and get some tips for how you can make one yourself.

What On Earth drops new podcast episodes every Wednesday and Saturday. You can find them on your favourite podcast app or on demand at CBC Listen. The radio show airs Sundays at 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m. in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Check the CBC News Climate Dashboard for live updates on record-breaking weather and current conditions across the country. Set your location to find out how today's temperatures compare to historical trends.

Last week, we included a link to a story about a U.S. company that effectively brought a geothermal well back from the dead to become one of the most productive pumped geothermal wells in the country.

Helen Prolas wrote: "Does the use of these wells affect the availability of the water table, drinking water availability? Is the water returned to the ground?"

The Union of Concerned Scientists says geothermal energy projects can use lots of water for cooling, but can substitute geothermal fluids instead of water to reduce their water use. They generally do return the water they use to drive steam turbines to the ground, but often need additional water to replace what was lost as steam. That returned water does not have to be clean or drinkable, though. The University of Michigan says geothermal uses about 0.9 to 15 litres of water per kWh, but that's far less than traditional thermoelectric generation such as fossil fuel burning plants.

Write us at whatonearth@cbc.ca (and send photos there, too!)

The Big Picture: Sunken Nazi warships resurface

History buffs are marvelling at the sight of sunken Nazi German warships recently revealed on the bed of Europe's Danube river.

But the appearance of the old wartime wrecks is a sign of a modern threat — the climate crisis that has been fuelling one of the hottest and driest summers in the continent's recorded history.

Residents of the Serbian village of Prahovo, where the Danube divides the border with neighbouring Romania, say some of the wrecks have been visible when the river has receded in the past. But this year, amid Europe's fifth heat wave since May, they say they’ve spotted several more.

“This gives a wonderful opportunity to look into World War II history,”said Capt. Arthur Gullachsen, a history professor at the Royal Military College of Canada. But, at the same time, it’s “very heartbreaking” for Europe to endure such extreme heat and drought. You can read more here.

Hot and bothered: Provocative ideas from around the web

How the tourism industry is adapting to smoky summers in B.C.

Tourism season is a major economic driver for communities across B.C., but the season of spending and travel overlaps with wildfire season.

This summer, numerous events across the B.C. Interior have been altered or cancelled due to smoke and fire.

The tourism industry says the economic and social impacts of a summer of smoke have left a lasting mark on communities.

"I've heard the word devastation thrown out by some of our organizers. It's very disappointing," said Jonathan Arkle, president of the Apple Race Series Society, after announcing the cancellation of the national triathlon championships that were to be hosted in Kelowna on Aug. 9.

He said the call to cancel the Argus Apple triathlon was made in response to concerns about the health impacts of heavy smoke in the air.

Environment Canada issued an air quality alert for B.C.'s south and central Interior during the first week of August and warned exposure to high smoke levels can pose a threat to health.

"We have second-hand heartbreak for all the athletes who had planned their weekend and are travelling from out of town to come,” said Arkle.

More than 700 athletes were registered for the national triathlon championships in Kelowna, and more were prepared to volunteer.

Similarly, the Fat Dog 120 trail race, which was scheduled to begin on Aug. 7, was also cancelled — just over a week before more than 1,000 people were set to converge on Manning Park in the Cascade Mountains.

“We didn't feel the conditions were safe,” said race director Erik Bird about the remote, 193-kilometre (120-mile) race after wildfires crossed into Canada from Washington state.

Bird said registrants will receive a 50 per cent race credit refund, but his team is still in the process of learning the full extent of the financial implications of cancelling the race.

He said staff, vendors, local shops and athletes will be impacted directly — but noted the cancellation of one of Canada's largest trail races also has a widespread trickle-down effect.

“People have been very understanding. Obviously there's disappointment, but, I think when you are a racer of this type of distance, in this kind of calibre of event, you are a problem-solver and you're a person of a positive mindset.”

He said he looks forward to hosting the race next year.

Cassandra Zerebeski, the president of Tourism Kelowna, said that despite event cancellations and smoke, tourists are still coming to town — but they are increasingly wary.

“We are seeing some fall-off from the air quality and concerns, with people calling in to push back their holidays,” said Zerebeski.

She said potential tourists have also been calling more frequently than before with questions about conditions.

On Friday, Zerebeski said about 10 per cent of tourists in Kelowna were cancelling their accommodation, with approximately 10 per cent of the occupied hotel rooms taken by wildfire evacuees.

She said Tourism Kelowna is working to highlight indoor recreation options — like wine tasting, shopping and spas — and combat a reputation of instability that was sparked by a travel ban imposed during the 2023 wildfires.

While some other events have also been cancelled, including a concert series in Vernon and a swim in Penticton, the Kamloops Rib Festival moved ahead.

Its chefs said they were trying to embrace the smoky conditions.

“We are only going to add to [the smoke] a little bit, and it will be the nice-smelling BBQ-glaze kind of smoke,” said rib cook Nicole Diavolitsis.

“We're really hoping Kamloops will come out and support, even though it's smoky out."

The dragon boat races that were set to run alongside the Kamloops Rib Festival, however, were cancelled due to health risks.

Thanks for reading. We'll be taking a summer break next week, but will be back soon. If you have questions, criticisms or story tips, please send them to whatonearth@cbc.ca.

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Editor: Emily Chung | Logo design: Sködt McNalty