Scandinavian countries are renowned for their environmental credentials, from significant renewable energy supplies to their love of cycling. So it is perhaps not so surprising to discover a new study has named Sweden the most sustainable country in the world.

 

A report from the Swiss investment group RobecoSAM launched late last week ranked 59 countries on a broad range of environmental and social governance issues such as carbon emissions, social cohesion and civil liberties.

 

The report was designed to provide investors with deeper insight of issues that could affect a country's credit rating but are not usually considered by traditional sovereign ratings, such as climate change.

 

The United Kingdom ranked number six on the list, scoring 7.57 out of 10. It scored highly on governance issues, such as how it deals with an ageing population, and six out of 10 for how it deals with environmental risks.

 

But Sweden came top of the list, earning high scores across almost all criteria and contrary to many developed countries, also scored well on environmental factors such as the use of renewable energy sources and CO2 emissions.

 

Australia was ranked second on the list, scoring 7.87/10, compared to Sweden's 8/25. Switzerland landed in third place with a score of 7.83. Denmark, Finland and Norway were also ranked in the top 10. Nigeria and Egypt fell to the bottom of the list, with particularly low scores on managing social issues.

 

RobecoSAM said the research found also countries with a stronger sustainability profile tended to have a lower insurance premium.