Climate Change Performance Index: Results 2023

FOCUS

The Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) is a report which assesses the policies adopted by various countries across the world to combat global warming. It has been published annually since 2005. This 2023 edition was authored by Jan Burck, Thea Uhlich and Christoph Bals (Germanwatch); Niklas Höhne and Leonardo Nascimento (NewClimate Institute); and Tasneem Essop (Climate Action Network International). 

Germanwatch, an environmental and human rights organisation, established the CCPI in order to keep track of the developments and amendments in climate policies, both national and international, as well as to analyse the interests of the countries formulating these policies. The aim of the CCPI is to help build an international climate policy relevant for all countries. The index assesses the performances of 59 countries and the European Union across four categories: GHG emissions, renewable energy, energy use and climate policy. 

The report states that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have grown by 40 per cent globally since 2000. If the world hopes to keep global warming limited to 1.5°C as per the Paris Agreement, countries must reduce their emissions by half by 2030. 

The 32-page report is divided into five sections: State of the Climate: Trying to beat the clock (Section 1); Overall Results CCPI 2023 (Section 2); Key Country Results (Section 3); About the CCPI (Section 4); and Endnotes (Section 5).

    FACTOIDS

  1. The overall CCPI rating for the countries showed that the top three positions remained vacant since no country could claim “very high” climate change performance.

  2. Denmark ranked the highest among the countries evaluated with a score of 79.61 out of 100. It was followed by Sweden (73.28), Chile (69.54), Morocco (67.44) and India (67.35).

  3. Iran ranked lowest on the overall CCPI with a score of 18.77. Other countries with lowest rankings included Saudi Arabia (22.41), Kazakhstan (24.61), Korea (24.91) and the Russian Federation (25.28).

  4. In the GHG emissions category, the first place remained vacant since no country scored high enough, the report notes. The highest scoring country – at number two – was Chile with 34.50 out of 40. Sweden (34.48), Philippines (31.45), Denmark (31.42) and Estonia (30.55) were other high scorers. India was ninth in the rankings with a score of 29.69.

  5. The countries with the lowest scores in the GHG emissions category were: Iran (5.16), Saudi Arabia (6.43), Kazakhstan (9.23), Chinese Taipei or Taiwan (9.98) and Canada (10.45).

  6. The first two places in the country rankings for the renewable energy category were vacant in the 2023 CCPI. Norway (19.35), Sweden (15.96), Denmark (14.76), Latvia (13.07) and Finland (12.89) scored the highest. India ranked 24 in the category with a score of 7.77.

  7. The Russian Federation ranked lowest in the renewable energy category with a score of 1.27 out of 20. The other countries with low rankings were Iran (1.46), Algeria (1.65), Mexico (2.38) and the United States of America (2.65).

  8. The demand for energy decreased in 2020 but was expected to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels soon after economic activity resurged. The first three places remain blank in the index under the energy use category since no country received high enough scores. Countries ranked 4-8 on the list (scoring out of 20) were: Colombia (17.71), Egypt (16.8), Philippines (16.75), United Kingdom (16.37), and Morocco (16.11).

  9. India was ninth on the list, scoring 16.03. The countries that fared the worst were Canada (4.45), Kazakhstan (5.55), Finland (5.75), Korea (5.93), and China (5.95).

  10. The climate policy category considers emission targets presented by countries as well as their implementation. No countries were ranked in the first three places. Securing ranks 4-8 were Denmark (20), Morocco (15.09), Netherlands (14.87), European Union (14.03) and India (13.85).

  11. The countries scoring lowest in the climate policy category were the Russian Federation (0), Turkey (0.48), Hungary (1.41), Brazil (1.65) and Algeria (2.61).

  12. Among the G20 countries, only three succeeded to be high performers in the 2023 CCPI – India ranked 8th, United Kingdom ranked 11th and Germany ranked 16th. The report gave special emphasis to G20 countries as these are collectively responsible for 75 per cent of the world’s GHG emissions.

  13. The report states that India is on track to meet its 2030 emissions target but falls behind on its plans for renewable energy. Although the country has unveiled targets for development of renewable energy sources and use, actual plans of action are missing, the report adds.

  14. India is one of the nine countries in the world contributing around 90 per cent of global coal production. It is also planning to boost production of oil and gas by five per cent by 2030. The report states that these actions compromise the 1.5°C global warming target.


    Focus and Factoids by Debadrita Saha.

AUTHOR

Jan Burck, Thea Uhlich, Christoph Bals, Niklas Höhne, Leonardo Nascimento, Monica Tavares and Elisabeth Strietzel

COPYRIGHT

Germanwatch, NewClimate Institute, and Climate Action Network

PUBLICATION DATE

14 Nov, 2022

TAGS

#global-warming #greenhouse-gases #climate-change-mitigation #climate-change #climate-crisis #environment

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