📊 Top Indices and Reports by the Hot or Cool Institute
The Hot or Cool Institute provides data-driven benchmarks to help society live well within planetary limits. Below is the updated list including the latest rankings and scores from their 2024–2026 research.
| Flag | Report / Index Name | Leading Example | Score / Rank | Primary Metric |
| 🌍 | Happy Planet Index (HPI) | Vanuatu 🇻🇺 | #1 (Global) | High wellbeing with a footprint below 3.17t $CO_2e$. |
| 🌡️ | 1.5-Degree Lifestyles | Nigeria 🇳🇬 | 1.5t $CO_2e$ | Footprint closest to the 2035 target of 1.1t. |
| 👗 | Sustainable Wardrobe | Target Limit | 74 Items | The "Sufficiency" cap for a person's total wardrobe. |
| 📉 | Fashion Inequality Index | Australia 🇦🇺 | Worst Rank | Highest per-capita fashion emissions in the G20. |
| 🤝 | Social Contract Index | Finland 🇫🇮 | #1 (Europe) | Highest fulfillment of the "4 Pacts" as of 2026. |
| 📉 | Social Contract (Large) | Germany 🇩🇪 | #13 (Europe) | Major EU powers score lower due to stagnating trust. |
| 🏠 | Fair Consumption Space | The "Safe Zone" | 1.1t – 3.9t | The emissions range for a "dignified yet green" life. |
| 🏙️ | Wellbeing Economy Cities | Amsterdam 🇳🇱 | Top Pilot | Measured by social participation vs. GDP growth. |
| 👥 | Income Decile HPI | Richest 10% | Lowest Score | The wealthy in the US score lowest due to 68.7t footprints. |
| 📊 | HPI Progress Rank | China 🇨🇳 | +22 Places | The country with the most improved HPI score since 2021. |
| Flag | Report / Index Name | Leading Example / Benchmark | Score / Rank | Primary Metric / Focus |
| 🛡️ | 11. Security Pact Dashboard | Iceland 🇮🇸 | High Stability | Measures physical safety and economic resilience within the Social Contract. |
| 🗳️ | 12. Democracy Pact Index | Denmark 🇩🇰 | Stagnating | Tracks if citizens feel "politically heard" (currently low across the EU). |
| 🍏 | 13. Food Footprint Target | Plant-based shift | ~500kg $CO_2e$ | The annual carbon budget allocated specifically for food per person. |
| 🚲 | 14. Mobility Sufficiency | Netherlands 🇳🇱 | Top Modal Shift | Benchmarks car-free travel and flight limits (max 1 short-haul/3 yrs). |
| 🛠️ | 15. Repair Bonus Index | France 🇫🇷 | €6 – €25 | Evaluates government incentives to repair rather than replace goods. |
| 🔄 | 16. Circular Economy Tracker | EU Strategy | Binding Targets | (2026) Measures progress toward resource-use reduction targets. |
| 🏥 | 17. Universal Basic Services | Social Guarantee | "Floor" fulfilled | Measures access to transport, water, and internet as a right, not a luxury. |
| 🏗️ | 18. Housing Retrofit Goal | Passive Standards | Zero-carbon | Benchmarks the required energy efficiency of residential buildings. |
| 🤝 | 19. Care-Centred Economy | Forum for Caring | Qualitative | Focuses on valuing unpaid care work as a core economic metric. |
| 📜 | 20. People's Measure Charter | Brazil 🇧🇷 | Bill Proposed | A legislative framework to replace GDP with citizen-led wellbeing metrics. |
| Flag | Report / Index Name | Benchmark / Leader | Key Metric / Metric Focus |
| 🌍 | 21. Global South Sufficiency Gap | India / Brazil | Measures the gap between current consumption and the "Social Floor." |
| 🔄 | 22. Sufficiency-Based Circularity | Binding Targets | Proposes metrics for absolute resource reduction (not just recycling). |
| 🧪 | 23. Citizen Guide to 1.5° Lifestyles | Action Index | A toolkit (2025) ranking high-impact vs. low-impact lifestyle changes. |
| 👩⚕️ | 24. Care Work Value Index | Unpaid Labor | Measures the economic contribution of "Care Work" relative to GDP. |
| 🗳️ | 25. Deliberative Democracy Index | Citizen Assemblies | Ranks the quality of "Mini-Publics" in shaping climate policy. |
| 🏙️ | 26. Urban Socio-Ecological Red Lines | Berlin / Paris | Tracks cities' performance in avoiding "Red Line" overconsumption. |
| 👗 | 27. SAFE Fashion Framework | Resize Targets | (2026) Policy index targeting overproduction in the global textile trade. |
| 📉 | 28. Carbon Inequality Dashboard | Top 10% Wealthy | Tracks the "Carbon Cost" of luxury consumption vs. poverty eradication. |
| 🤝 | 29. Reciprocity & Property Index | Shared Assets | Evaluates the shift from private ownership to "Access-Based" models. |
| 🗣️ | 30. Common Future Vocabulary | Glossary Index | Standardizes 100+ sustainability terms to align global policy. |
A New Metric for a Sustainable Future
Through these thirty indices, reports, and frameworks, the Hot or Cool Institute has effectively redefined how we measure success in the 21st century. By shifting the focus away from the raw output of GDP and toward the "socio-ecological efficiency" of our daily lives, they provide a roadmap for a future that is both environmentally viable and socially just. Whether it is the global rankings of the Happy Planet Index or the specific garment limits of the Sustainable Wardrobe Benchmark, their work serves as a grounded, scientific reminder that "living well" does not require "consuming more." As we move deeper into 2026, these metrics will continue to play a crucial role in helping governments, cities, and individuals navigate the narrow—but necessary—space between a dignified social floor and a rigid ecological ceiling.