As it has long been debated who is a front-runner and who is a laggard state in terms of environmental protection it is rather surprising that the topic has received rather scant attention as far as quantitative, large-n research endeavours are concerned. Of course, there is a broad literature on the topic. However, existing studies have shortcomings. The criteria on which the assessments rely are often not really equivalent cross-nationally or not entirely clearly communicated, i.e. non-transparent. Although ambitious efforts have been invested to rank countries in terms of their environmental performance, little more systematic research exists that clearly determines leaders and laggards in terms of their policies (policy performance) and to rank states accordingly. To the best of our knowledge, no empirical study so far conducted a comprehensive and quantitative leader-laggard-assessment policy analysis. Against this backdrop, we aim to provide such a paper. We especially strive for testing the validity of “common knowledge”-classifications or rankings derived from assessments in the literature. We demonstrate that while some known leader states are indeed leaders if assessed from a broader policy data perspective, other countries commonly assigned a leader role find themselves rather a medium position. In addition, some nations commonly not seen among the front-runners are located quite and unexpectedly high in the rankings. Even leader-laggard reversals occur if our results would be compared to existing classifications. Most importantly, the analyses show a considerable temporal dynamic. While often been claimed or assumed, this had not yet been proven that clearly before.
