Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2018 was released on November 15, 2017, on the sidelines of the UN Climate Change negotiations (COP23) in Bonn, Germany. It is issued by German watch, the New Climate Institute and the Climate Action Network.
Background
Recognizing the need to take instant action in protecting the global climate, the 21st Conference of the Parties, held in December 2015 in Paris, made a pioneering achievement in adopting the goal to limit global warming to well below 2°C and pursue efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C. With its new methodology, the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) is now suited to measure the progress of countries towards contributing to the climate goals decided in Paris. It is applied for the first time for the G20 countries in July 2017 and was now adopted for all 56 countries evaluated in the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) and the EU for the CCPI 2018 edition.
The Climate Change Performance Index is an instrument intended to improve transparency in international climate politics. Its aim is to put political and social pressure on those countries which have, up until now, failed to take determined action on climate protection. It furthermore aims to highlight those countries with best practice climate policies.
About Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI)
Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) keeps track of countries’ efforts in fighting climate change. On the basis of uniform criteria, the index evaluates and compares the climate protection performance of 56 countries and the European Union that collectively are responsible for about 90% of global energy-related CO2 emissions. On the basis of consistent criteria, the index evaluates and compares the climate protection performance of countries. 80% of the evaluation is based on objective indicators of emissions tendency and emissions level. 20% of the index outcome is built upon national and international climate policy assessments by more than 200 experts from the respective countries.
Performance of various countries
The ranking results of this category are defined by a country’s aggregated performance concerning 14 indicators inside the four categories GHG Emissions, Renewable Energy, Energy Use and Climate Policy. The CCPI 2018 results show the main regional differences in climate protection and performance within the 56 evaluated countries and the EU. Despite falling growth rates in CO2 emissions, still, no country performed well enough to attain the rating “very high” in this year’s index. China, which is one of the main GHG emitting countries, ranks 41st.
like last year’s rankings, top three rankings are still unoccupied as no country has adhered to commitments made in 2015 Paris Climate Accord that aims to maintain the average global temperature rise below two degrees Celsius and as close as possible to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The report has taken into consideration commitments by nations to lessen greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent and increase energy efficiency and renewable by at least 27 percent by the year 2030. The report remarks that global energy transition is taking up the pace but no country is doing sufficient. For this, the countries have to strengthen targets and execution.
In this year’s index, Sweden is leading the list, followed by Lithuania and Morocco. The group of medium-performing countries consists of countries like Brazil, Germany, Mexico, and Ukraine whereas New Zealand, the Netherlands and Austria are classified as low performers in the overall rating. Saudi Arabia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Korea, Australia and the United States figure the bottom five of this categorization, scoring low or very low across almost all categories. These countries have not made any steps forward in this direction of dropping emission levels, nor have shown any desire to do so.
The data show hopeful growth in renewable energy, ever cheaper prices for solar and wind energy and successes in saving energy in several countries. This was responsible for stabilizing global energy CO2 emissions in the last 3 years. But progress is achieved much too sluggish for a fully renewable energy based world economy in a few decades because growing oil and gas consumption is higher than the decline in coal use. India is ranked 14th, an improvement from its 20th position last year. Improvement in India’s rank in CCPI 2018 indicates that Indian Government is putting efforts for dipping greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by opting to convert its electricity sector towards green technology.
♦ Pradeep Gautam
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