BAKU: India slipped from 7th rank a year ago to 10th in the latest Climate Change Performance Index, but the country along with the UK (6th) are the only G20 nations on the high-performers list, showed an annual report released on the sidelines of CO on Wednesday.
Despite the drop, India remains on the list of top 10 high-performing countries for the sixth year in a row. India, which ranked 31st in 2014, entered the top 10 in 2019.
Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK take the lead as fourth, fifth and sixth rankers with the top three ranks remaining vacant like the previous years in the absence of a perfect score to any country.
The world’s biggest emitter China ranks 55th and the second biggest, US, remains at 57th position – they are among very low performers, according to the 20th edition of CCPI, released jointly by Germanwatch, NewClimate Institute, and CAN International.
The four last-placed countries in the CCPI are Iran, Saudi Arabia, last year UN climate talks host UAE and Russia — ranked 67, 66, 65 and 64, respectively. “All four are among the largest oil and gas producers worldwide. The share of renewables in their energy mix is lower than 3%. These countries show no sign of departing from fossil fuels as a business model,” the report, which assessed the progress made by the largest emitters globally, said.
Noting that the renewables are in the fast lane, especially in the electricity sector, lead author of CCPI, Jan Burck from the Germanwatch said, “Nevertheless, there is still massive resistance from the fossil fuel lobby. Countries should not fall deeper into the fossil trap.”
The CCPI uses a standardized framework to compare the climate performance of 63 countries and the EU, which together account for over 90% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The climate mitigation performance of countries is assessed in four categories: GHG emission, renewable energy, energy use and climate policy.
India gets a high ranking in the GHG emission and energy use categories, medium in climate policy, and low in renewable energy. “While India is the world’s most populous country, it has relatively low per capita emissions and low energy use,” said the report.
The report underlined that though India has seen considerable progress in renewable energy policy, particularly in large-scale solar power projects and the launch of the Rooftop Solar Scheme, in the past year, the country remains heavily reliant on coal, with the experts noting that its phase-out is progressing too slowly. India is among the 10 countries with the largest developed coal reserves, and is currently planning to even increase its production.
The report shows that 14 G20 countries including the US, China, Canada (62nd), Australia (52nd), South Korea (63rd), Argentine (59th) and Janan (58th) get an overall low or very low ranking.
“The G20 is particularly responsible for drastically cutting emissions, as its members account for more than 75% of the world’s GHG emissions. Russia, Saudi Arabia and South Korea are still the G20’s worst-performing countries and receive an overall very low (ranks),” said the report.
