Drops of Knowledge – Discovering Black Sea Facts & Figures
World Environment Day│Facts from the Black Sea region
5 June 2026
On World Environment Day (5 June), the ICBSS publishes a set of infographics with data about the current status and progress of environmental sustainability across the 13 BSEC countries.
2024 Environmental Performance Index
The 2024 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) provides a data-driven summary of the state of sustainability around the world, combining 58 indicators across 11 issue categories, ranging from climate change mitigation and air pollution to waste management, sustainability of fisheries and agriculture, deforestation, and biodiversity protection. The EPI ranks 180 countries based on climate change performance, environmental health, and ecosystem vitality.
Among the BSEC13, Greece ranks the best at 11th out of 180 countries in terms of environmental performance. Romania and Bulgaria follow at the 33rd and 37th ranking, respectively. Azerbaijan and Türkiye rank the lowest at 121st and 143rd place respectively. [Graph 1]
Sustainable Development Report 2025
The Sustainable Development Report (SDR) reviews annual progress of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) since their adoption in 2015. The 2025 edition of the report covers 126 indicators across the 17 UNSDGs.
On World Environment Day 2026 #NowForClimate, we focus on four key indicators related to environment across four major UNSDGs, i.e. SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG 13: Climate Action, SDG 13: Climate Action, SDG 14: Life below Water, SDG 15: Life on Land.
HIGHLIGHTS
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- Despite the progress made over the years, only a small number of UNSDGs indicators related to environment have been achieved by the 13 BSEC Member States. In the majority of cases, significant or major challenges remain.
- The indicator that has been achieved to the greatest extent -by four BSEC countries- is that of the mean area that is protected in freshwater sites important to biodiversity (SDG 15: Life on Land). On the contrary, the indicator of production-based air pollution (SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production) has not yet been achieved by any BSEC country.
SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production | Indicator: Production-based air pollution (DALYs per 1,000 population). The indicator measures emissions of air pollution embodied from the production of goods and services. Air pollutants are converted into disability-adjusted life years lost (DALYs) to aggregate across types of pollution. The long-term objective for this indicator is a value of 0.
Given that DALYs measure the total burden of disease attributed to air pollution, representing one lost year of "healthy" life (Source: World Health Organization), all BSEC Member States are yet to take action towards tackling air pollution measurably. Only three of the BSEC13 show moderate action, scoring below 5, i.e. Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The rest score over 6; Bulgaria ranking the lowest at 20.5. [Graph 2]
SDG 13: Climate Action | Indicator: CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production (tCO2/capita). The indicator measures emissions from the combustion and oxidation of fossil fuels and from cement production, excluding emissions from fuels used for international aviation and maritime transport. The long-term objective for this indicator is a value of 0.
Of the 13 BSEC MS only two have achieved the indicator, i.e. the Republic of Moldova (1.7) and Albania (1.8), whereas in 10 countries significant or major challenges still remain. [Graph 3]
SDG 14: Life below Water | Indicator: Fish caught by trawling or dredging (%). The indicator measures the percentage of fish caught by bottom trawling, a method of fishing in which industrial fishing vessels drag large nets (trawls) along the seabed. This indicator is the sum of the series for bottom trawling, shrimp trawling, and dredging. The long-term objective for this indicator is a value of 1.
Albania and Bulgaria perform the lowest at 75.20% and 73.20% respectively, whereas the Russian Federation and Romania have achieved the indicator. Noteworthy, four littoral countries score below 35%. [Graph 4]
SDG 15: Life on Land | Indicator: Mean area that is protected in freshwater sites important to biodiversity (%). The indicator measures the mean percentage area of freshwater Key Biodiversity Areas that are protected, i.e. sites that are important for the global persistence of biodiversity. The long-term objective for this indicator is a value of 100.
Among the BSEC13, eight countries score lower than 60%, with Türkiye at the lowest rank (4.20%). Four countries score higher than 90% (Bulgaria, Albania, Republic of North Macedonia, Greece). [Graph 5]
Sources:
Sustainable Development Report 2025, https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/
2024 Environmental Performance Index, https://epi.yale.edu/
World Environment Day / United Nations, https://www.un.org/en/observances/environment-day
All last accessed on 4 June 2026.
