UPSC Express

About Climate Change Performance Index 2019

• The Climate Change Performance Index is an instrument designed to enhance transparency in international climate politics.
• The index evaluates the climate protection performance of 56 countries and the European Union which are together responsible for more than 90% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
• The CCPI fully incor­porates the Paris Agreement measuring the performance of parties based on the promises made and delivered formulated in their Nationally Determined Contributions(NDC).
• However, it should be noted that the NDCs if fulfilled would still see the global thermometer rise by more than 3C.
• The CCPI evaluates the countries’ 2030 targets in 4 categories namely

1. GHG Emissions (40% weightage)
2. Renewable Energy (20% weightage)
3. Energy Use(20% weightage)
4. Climate policy(20% weightage)

• The CCPI is a joint effort of German watch (an international NGO), New Climate Institute and Climate Action Network (CAN).

Key Findings

• Overall Index
• The first 3 places in the CCPI 2019 is left blank as no country performed well enough to reach the ranking very good.
• In CCPI 2019, Sweden has topped the ranking, followed by Morocco and Lithuania.
• The bottom most performers are Saudi Arabia, the United States, Iran, Republic of Korea and Chinese Taipei and Australia.
• India ranks 11th this year improving its standing by three places compared to the previous edition.

• GHG Emissions Ranking
• Sweden is the best performing country followed by Egypt, Malta and the United Kingdom.
• Iran, Republic of Korea and Saudi Arabia are the bottom three countries.
• In 40 of the 56 countries, emissions went down between 2011 and 2016.
• However according to recent study by Global Climate Project, global carbon emission is projected to have been risen highest levels (2.7%) in the recorded history in 2018.This is due to growth in fossil fuel use like coal and oil in most regions.
• India has low level per capita GHG emissions and a relatively ambitious mitigation target for 2030 and thus place 12 in the emissions category.
• Renewable Energy Rankings
• Renewable energy is a key driver for mitigating emissions.
• Latvia leads the ranking of the category, followed by Sweden and New Zealand.
• Iran, Saudi Arabia and Russia are the bottom three.
• Under Paris Climate Agreement,India has pledged to generate 40% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
• However the dominance of coal in its energy mix may pose a risk of offsetting positive developments in the renewable energy sector.
• Energy Use Rankings
• While emerging economies tend to perform well in this category, India is rapidly increasing its energy use in the past few years.
• Despite this India is placed 10th in this category.
• Climate Policy Rankings
• Climate policy category is led by Portugal, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and Morocco.
• Australia, Turkey and the United States form the group of the worst-performing countries.
• These counties often hinder progress in international negotiations.