Anupama Nair
The Climate Change Performance Index or CCPI is a scoring system designed by the German environmental and development organization Germanwatch e.V. to increase transparency in international climate politics. On the basis of standardized criteria, the index evaluates and compares the climate protection performance of 57 countries and the European Union (EU), that is responsible for more than 90% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The CCPI was first published in 2005 and an updated version is presented at the United Nations Climate Change Conference annually. Germanwatch publishes the index in collaboration with the New Climate Index and Climate Action Network International and with financial support from Barthel Foundation. The results are available in German, English, French and Spanish language.
As per the report, “as an independent monitoring tool, the CCPI has a leading role in providing information on the Paris Agreement's implementation phase. The CCPI has provided analysis of countries' climate protection performance since 2005”. No country is performing well enough in all CCPI index categories to achieve an overall very high rating. The first three positions in the overall ranking thus remain empty. This said a great deal of the efforts of the countries in the world to implement Paris Agreement. Even if all countries were as committed as the current frontrunners, it would still not be enough to prevent a dangerous climate change.
The countries with high rankings also cannot afford to relax. Even greater efforts by the governments are needed to set the world on track to keep global warming well below a 2°C increase and even better 1.5°C. Australia has continuously performed very low in the CCPI rating. The country’s energy mix, of 92% relies on fossil fuels as of 2020. Nevertheless, the Australian Government is not taking any substantial action to drastically alter the scenario. The CCPI-experts indicate that Australia’s main climate policy, (the Technology Investment Roadmap of 2020), sets insufficient targets and measures for decarbonizing the country’s economy by 2050.
The top three ranks in the index this year were empty as none of the countries qualified to achieve an overall very high rating. India is the only G20 nation that is in the top 10. US, Canada, South Korea, Russia, Australia, and Saudi Arabia have the lowest ratings. China, the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, ranks 33rd position in the index. Denmark, ranked at 4th position, is the highest performing nation in the index with a 76.92% score.
The top ten nations in the index are: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, United Kingdom, Morocco, Chile, and India. India is ranked 10th and scored 63.98 points out of 100. Under the category of renewable energy, our country, however, slipped to the 27th rank. India had pledged to increase the share of non-fossil fuels-based electricity to 40% by 2030 in Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC). India ranked at 12th place in per capita emissions. We had adopted BS-VI Emission Norms to control the emissions from automobiles. In the climate policy category, we were in the 13th position and 10th position in the energy-used category.
It is clear message to all the countries in the world to take care of our Mother Earth. If we don’t we are in great danger and might even face extinction. Though we are doing good in the ranking. India cannot afford to relax.
