Context: Recently, released Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2022 report has found that major emitting economies that announced their Net Zero emission release targets fared poorly in their climate change performance over 2021.

About the Report

• The CCPI is an independent monitoring tool for tracking countries’ climate protection performance. It has been published annually since 2005.
• It is compiled and published by German-watch along with Climate Action Network (CAN) and New Climate Institute.
• It evaluates 60 countries and the European Union, which together generate more than 90 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Parameters of the index

• The CCPI looks at four categories, with 14 indicators: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (40% of the overall score), Renewable Energy (20%), Energy Use (20%), and Climate Policy (20%).
• The CCPI’s unique climate policy section evaluates countries’ progress in implementing policies working towards achieving the Paris Agreement goals.

Key highlights of the 2021 report

• The first three ranks of the overall rankings were kept empty because no country had performed well enough in all index categories to achieve an overall very high rating.
• The 2021 report places Sweden on top, while countries such as Morocco and the UK are also ranked high.
• The bottom-ranked country, the United States, therefore, was placed at 61.
• The report showed that while United States, despite improving marginally since it re-entered global climate negotiation process when President Joe Biden took charge, ranked 55th within 65 countries considered with ‘very low’ rating.
• China slipped down four places compared to 2020 to occupy 37th position and a ‘low’ rating.
• European Union also slid six places compared to year before, and occupied 22nd position and ‘medium’ rating.
• UK did well by occupying 7th position; it slipped two positions compared to year before.
• The Scandinavian countries did well; Denmark took the pole position in the climate performance list with 76.92 per cent score, followed by Sweden and Norway with 74.46 and 73.62 per cent scores respectively (‘high’ rating).
• None of the countries could fare well enough to have ‘very high’ rating, a repetition of earlier year, as none could score more than 80 per cent or above.  
• The last five in the ladder were Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Canada and Taiwan. They all slipped down several positions compared to the year before. 

India's performance

• India, however, maintained its 10th rank like last year. It continued to be among the top-performing countries within Group of 20.
• In the overall rankings, India is at number 10 with a score of 63.98.
• It is a high performer except in the renewable energy category, in which it is ranked “medium”.
• The report says that India is benefiting from its relatively low per-capita emissions.
• In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, Sweden, Egypt, Chile and the UK are in the top 7. India is ranked 12.
• Moreover, India “is already on track to meet its 2030 emissions target (which is compatible with a well-below-2°C scenario), close to achieving its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) target of a 40% share for non-fossil fuel installed power capacity by 2030, and on course for a targeted 33–35% reduction in energy intensity by the same year” said the report.
• India’s ambitious renewable energy policies, such as its targets of renewable electricity capacity of 450 GW and a 30% electric vehicle share by 2030, also contributed” said the report.

Road Ahead

• India should set Net Zero target for 2050 and leverage its domestic success on renewables and emissions intensity into international initiatives. More could be done to strengthen policies on climate vulnerability, adaptation, and resilience building. Equity and social development should also feature more strongly in the energy transition.