Berlin Along with Denmark and Sweden, Chile and Morocco are the countries that can count themselves among the pioneers in climate protection thanks to the rapid expansion of renewable energies. This is the result of the Climate Protection Index (KSI) 2023 presented on Monday by the environmental and development organization Germanwatch and the think tank NewClimate Institute.
The report shows pioneers in climate protection efforts, but also those who still have some catching up to do. According to this report, Germany is one of the latter.
The index, which has been published annually since 2005, compares 59 of the largest emitters worldwide and the EU in terms of their climate protection efforts. Together, the countries account for 92 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Four categories were evaluated: emission level and trend, which accounts for 40 percent of the evaluation. Accounting for 20 percent each: the expansion of renewable energies, energy consumption and climate policy.
Denmark, Sweden, Chile and Morocco occupy places four to seven. As in previous years, places one to three remain vacant, as no country is yet on the 1.5-degree path that is being striven for worldwide.
In 2015, the world community agreed in the Paris Climate Agreement to limit global warming to below two degrees Celsius, better 1.5 degrees, in pre-industrial comparison. There is now a broad consensus that two degrees cannot be enough to mitigate the most destructive forces of climate change.
To date, the global average temperature has increased by 1.1 to 1.2 degrees – and extreme weather events are on the increase around the globe.
Germany is slipping
Compared to the previous year, Germany fell three places to rank 16. The new federal government receives better grades than the previous one and the declining per capita emissions in a five-year comparison (2017 to 2021) ensure good ratings for the emissions trend.
On the other hand, the weak climate policy of recent years is now taking revenge, says the report. “The expansion of renewables, which has been severely slowed down since 2020, and the sharp increase in emissions after Corona, especially in the transport sector, are having a strong impact.”
Under the last government of Union and SPD, the expansion of wind energy collapsed massively. “If the acceleration packages of the new federal government take effect, this position can improve again in the next few years,” according to the authors of the ranking.
However, “Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s fixation on the oversized expansion of liquid gas imports and the ramping up of coal-fired power plants as a result of the energy price crisis” has a negative impact,” explains Jan Burck from Germanwatch, one of the authors of the index. On the other hand, “the refusal to work” by Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) in the implementation of the climate goals in transport also puts pressure on Germany’s assessment.
EU countries between “good” and “very weak”
the EU as a whole makes up three places and is in 19th place. The main reason for the rise is the tightened climate plans through the “Fit for 55” package. “In the long term, however, the EU will only rise in the climate protection index if it supports all member states with a CO2 price for transport and heat, among other things, to further reduce their emissions,” says Thea Uhlich from Germanwatch and co-author.
The picture in the EU countries is currently very different. Denmark and Sweden are roughly fourth and fifth high, Spain and France 23rd and 28th in the middle, while Hungary and Poland are 53rd and 54th at the bottom.
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None of this fits in with the 1.5 degree target. The EU should reduce its emissions by at least 65 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 and become climate-neutral by 2040, the experts demand. Current plans call for a 55 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Greenhouse gas neutrality is planned for 2050.
The largest emitters, China and the US, in the “very bad” category
China dropped 13 places to rank 51. Although the country invests in renewables on a very large scale, it performs very poorly, especially when it comes to the emissions trend (2016 to 2021). “China has not yet managed to curb the increasing emissions and reverse the trend in the long term,” summarizes Niklas Höhne from the NewClimate Institute.
the United States have moved up to 52nd place in the ranking due to more progressive climate policies. According to the experts, the trends in emissions and energy consumption are also pointing in the right direction. However, the emission level per capita is very high.
India moved up two places to eighth place in the ranking. The country benefits above all from still low per capita emissions and comparatively low energy consumption. The expansion of renewable energies also gets good marks. However, the increase in emissions is so severe that the country will slide in the foreseeable future unless it changes course.
Trailing lights are Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia
At the bottom of the overall index are the oil-rich countries of Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia. Russia got only about three percent of its energy from renewable sources in 2020. This is well below the average for most countries in the climate protection ranking.
The urgency of the climate crisis is being ignored, the report says. The war of aggression against Ukraine has led to a massive deployment of weapons, planes, tanks and trucks by Russia and Ukraine, resulting in large emissions of greenhouse gases.
Russia has also undermined global efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, it said. “The energy crisis resulting from the war has weakened climate protection around the world as countries seek new sources of fossil fuels instead of taking climate action.”
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