National Geographic has developed an index that tracks the green-ness of consumer behavior worldwide.

“Greendex 2012: Consumer Choice and the Environment—A Worldwide Tracking Survey” measures consumer behavior in areas relating to housing, transportation, food, and consumer goods. Greendex 2012 ranks average consumers in 17 countries according to the environmental impact of their consumption patterns and is the only survey of its kind.

The top-scoring consumers of 2012 are in the developing economies of India, China, and Brazil, in descending order. Those in emerging economies continue to round out the top tier of the Greendex ranking, while the lowest scores are all earned by consumers in industrialized countries. American consumers’ behavior still ranks as the least sustainable of all countries surveyed since the inception of the study, followed by Canadian, Japanese, and French consumers.

Meanwhile, consumers in developing countries with the highest Greendex scores are the most likely to agree that they “feel guilty about the impact [they] have on the environment,” despite having the lightest footprint as individuals. The research finds a positive relationship between the extent to which people feel guilty about their impact and the Greendex scores of average consumers in the same countries. Consumers with low Greendex scores, i.e., those demonstrating the least sustainable behavior as consumers, are least likely to feel guilty about the implications of their choices for the environment.

I don’t doubt the validity of their conclusion that the average person in China, India, and Brazil has a much lower environmental impact than the average person in Canada, Japan, France, and the United States. I am surprised though by their finding that people in developing countries express more guilt about their own personal ecological footprints. That is not my impression based on some time living and working in Asia. The small, unscientific sample of people I have interacted with are definitely concerned about air and water pollution, for health and safety reasons, and if they belong to a generation that still remembers the land they tend to feel some sadness about urbanization. But concern about health and safety is not the same thing as guilt. People are demanding cleaner air, water, and food for themselves and their families, but that doesn’t mean they are thinking much about their impact on the environment for the environment’s sake. It’s a great story to tell that as these billions of people catch up in wealth and spending to their more industrialized, urbanized neighbors, they will do so without adopting those neighbors much larger ecological footprint. I want to believe it, but I don’t believe that is the path we are on.