India ranks ninth among countries with higher climate performance: Report

India for the first time has ranked among the top ten countries in the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) that was presented on Tuesday at the COP25 Climate Summit in Madrid, Spain, according to a report. In 2019's index, India has jumped to the ninth position from 2018's 11th rank. The ranking results are defined by a country’s aggregated performance in 14 indicators within the four categories “GHG Emissions”, “Renewable Energy” and “Energy Use”, as well as on “Climate Policy”, in a globally unique policy section of the index said the Germanwatch and NewClimate Institute report.

Accordingly, India's current levels of per capita emissions and energy use are still comparatively low and, along with ambitious 2030 targets, result in high ratings for the GHG Emissions and Energy Use categories. While the country receives an overall medium rating in the Renewable Energy category, India’s 2030 renewable energy target is rated very high for its well-below 2°C compatibility.

Experts have commended the government for strong policies to support the expansion of renewable energy, which is needed to meet the ambitious targets as recent renewable energy capacity additions are below the level required. Despite an overall high rating for its Climate Policy performance, experts point out that the government has yet to develop a roadmap for the phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies that would consequently reduce the country’s high dependence on coal. 

The CCPI 2020 results illustrate the main regional differences in climate protection and performance within the 57 evaluated countries and the EU. No country yet performs well enough in all index categories to achieve an overall very high rating in the index. Therefore, once again the first three ranks remained empty. 

In this year’s index, Sweden leads the ranking on rank 4, followed by Denmark (5) and Morocco (6). The bottom five in this year’s CCPI are Islamic Republic of Iran (57), Republic of Korea (58), Chinese Taipei (59), Saudi Arabia (60) and the United States (61), rated low or very low across almost all categories. The US is the worst performer for the first time.  While only two G20 countries, the UK (7th) and India (9th), are ranked in the "high" category, eight G20 countries are remaining in the worst category of the index ("very low"). 

The Climate Change Performance Index by Germanwatch and NewClimate Institute published together with the Climate Action Network (CAN) is a ranking of the 57 countries (new: Chile) and the EU, collectively responsible for about 90% of global GHG emissions. The four categories assessed are--GHG Emissions (40%), Renewable Energy (20%), Energy Use (20%) and Climate Policy (20%). The latter is based on expert assessments by NGOs and think tanks from the respective countries.

Within the categories GHG Emissions, Renewable Energy and Energy Use the CCPI also evaluates to what extent the respective countries are taking adequate action to be on track towards the global Paris-goal of limiting global warming to well below 2°C. Therefore, CCPI is an important tool to enhance transparency in international climate politics and enables comparison of climate protection efforts and progress made by individual countries.