The Climate Change Performance Index

In this year again, none of the countries ranked in
the index achieved the positions one to three; despite
the high attention the issue of climate change
has reached prior to the climate change summit in
Copenhagen. None of the countries analysed is contributing
sufficiently on a practical level to the goal
to avoid dangerous climate change and keep global
warming notably below the 2 degrees limit.
It should be noted that more emerging economies
are among the forerunners than in previous years. In
addition to many European countries, Brazil, India
and Mexico were able to place themselves in top
positions. Yet, there is more to do to earn the best
grade - Brazil, Sweden or the United Kingdom also
still have a lot of catching-up to do. The index compares
countries only with each other, and the first
positions solely show that these countries perform
better in terms of climate protection than others. No
country is yet on the path to contribute adequately
to avoiding dangerous climate change. Due to this
lack of political will, this year again, positions one to
three could not be awarded. So far, the index can only
compare countries based on energy-induced emissions,
therefore emissions resulting from land-use
changes were not included. Brazil made big progress
in reducing deforestation within the last months.
However, it is not yet clear if this is a result due to
a decreased demand of palm oil and soya from the
current economic crisis.
In regards to the emissions trend, Australia, China,
Saudi Arabia and Austria in particular perform badly.
Especially Saudi Arabia's performance in the Climate
Change Performance Index contradicts the necessary
level of climate protection: on the one hand,
they are producing a high emissions level and a poor
emissions trend. On the other hand, their representatives
consistently obstructed the UN climate negotiations
by, e.g., insisting on compensations for lost
gains from oil sales, to be delivered through funds
originally intended for the support of poor countries
for adaptation measures. This led to an extremely
negative policy evaluation.
Looking at the emissions level of the ranked countries,
the United States, Canada and Russia place
very poorly. Even though the USA was able to improve
several ranks in comparison to last year's results,
the proof still needs to be furnished that the
new climate policies of President Obama will also
lead to reduced emissions and a leading international
position on climate.
The United Kingdom succeeded in passing a national
climate policy act. Such a track may - if well done -
lead to a constant emissions reduction and may help
the UK to perform just as well next year. This is a
vital component on the path to remain below the
2 degrees limit.