Denmark tops climate index, Germany down three places on slow renewables expansion

Denmark tops the latest edition of the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) by NewClimate Institute, Climate Action Network and Germanwatch, which saw Germany fall three places to 16th of the 59 countries assessed. As a bloc, the European Union was ranked 19th. The slowed expansion of renewables until 2020 and the high rebound of emissions in the transport sector in 2021 are the main reasons for Germany’s lower ranking, according to the index. However, the CCPI welcomed policy introduced by the government after it took office late last year. “Germany rises seven ranks in the Climate Policy category caused by the improvements the new government has implemented over the past year, getting Germany back on track,” the report reads. Still, the authors call on the government to introduce policies to phase out fossil fuels faster and criticise the country’s reaction to the energy crisis, “turning to countries such as Senegal to develop new gas reserves and Colombia to mine additional coal.”

Published annually since 2005, the CCPI is presented at the UN climate talks and tracks how countries are doing on climate action. The CCPI assesses each country’s performance in four categories: greenhouse gas emissions (40% of the overall ranking), renewable energy (20%), energy use (20%) and climate policy (20%). As with previous years, no country performs well enough in all index categories to achieve an overall very high rating.