India ranks 20th on 2017 Climate Change Performance Index

India was placed at the 20th rank among the 58 countries on the 2017 Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI).
The index was released by Germanwatch, an independent German NGO and Climate Action Network Europe.
What is CCPI?

• The CCPI is an instrument designed to enhance transparency in international climate politics. It is list of countries doing the most to combat climate change.
• It aims to put social and political pressure on those countries which have, up until now, failed to take ambitious action on climate protection.
• The index evaluates and compares the climate protection performance of 58 countries on the basis of standardised criteria.
• These 58 countries together are responsible for about 90% of global energy-related CO2 emissions.

Key Highlights of 2017 CCPI

• First three spots in the list of 2017 CCPI rankings were left vacant. France was placed at 4th place, thus leads list for the first time. It was followed by Sweden (5th) and UK (6th).
• The index underlines that countries like India are making “great efforts” in the fields of renewables and energy efficiency.
• It emphasised that developing countries should choose a “cleverer and cleaner” development path and not ape industrialised nations.
• Emerging economies of G20 like India (20), Argentina (36) and Brazil (40) have improved their ranking. India’s scores have improved slightly interms of renewables and energy efficiency.
• Canada (55), Australia (57) and Japan (60) are in the bottom group countries and have been rated very poor the list.
• The 2015 Paris Agreement has helped in encouraging the trends in switching towards the renewable energy, but the revolution in switching is very slow at the global level.
• Many countries still lack in ambition in switching towards the renewable energy. World’s two largest emitters are USA and China were ranked 43rd and 48th respectively.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2016