Ireland has the 10th best environmental policies in the world, according to an extensive study by US scientists.
Ireland's policy ranking is well above its 23rd global position for the health of its environment, conducted last year by the same scientists at Yale and Columbia universities.
The new study, the 2006 Environmental Performance Index, found that Ireland ranked 7th among EU countries for its environmental policies, and 9th among OECD countries.
Melissa Goodall, associate director of the Yale centre for environmental law and policy, said it showed that Ireland had introduced strong environmental policies across a wide range of criteria, but Ireland's environment did not rank as high.
"Ireland ranked just 23rd in last year's Environmental Sustainability Index but it has a very high ranking for environmental policy. Those policies show strong environmental management that will, hopefully, pay off in the future."
The Environmental Performance Index ranked New Zealand, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, and the UK as having the best environmental policies, with the US 28th. The bottom half of the rankings is mostly filled by countries in south Asia and Africa.
The findings, due to be released tomorrow in Davos, Switzerland, at the World Economic Forum, ranked 133 countries on six categories: environmental health; air quality; water resources; biodiversity and habitat; productive natural resources; and sustainable energy.
The researchers say the study's "peer group" rankings according to level of development allow "easy tracking of leaders and laggards" on environmental policy.
It found that the lowest-ranked countries - Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Chad and Niger - are underdeveloped nations with little capacity to invest in environmental infrastructure.
However, the report found that some developing countries have sharply contrasting environmental policies, with the Dominican Republic ranking 54th, far above its neighbour Haiti, which ranks 114th.