The Climate Change Performance Index compares 60 countries and the EU in the areas of Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Renewable Energies, Energy Use and Climate Policy, thus providing a comprehensive overview of the current efforts and progress of the countries analysed.
Scandinavian countries are leading the way in climate protection, together with Morocco and the United Kingdom. Leaders Denmark, Sweden and Norway occupy ranks four to six in the new Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2022, presented today by Germanwatch, NewClimate Institute and Climate Action Network (CAN). Places one to three again remain vacant because no country’s measures, thus far, have been sufficient to achieve an overall ‘very high’ rating with none following a path necessary to keep global warming within the 1.5°C limit.
Two years after the 2015 Paris Agreement, the world’s multilateral development banks (MDBs) committed to align their financial flows with the landmark climate pact’s goals. Now, four years later, it’s clear that as a group, the MDBs are still a long way away from realizing their commitment throughout their portfolios. While MDBs have focused on aligning direct investments with Paris goals, this effort is not sufficiently ambitious, nor is it complete. They have paid less attention to whether their indirect investments support climate goals. And policy-based loans — a favored instrument during times of crisis — also remain a blind spot.
More than 300 civil society organisations have sent an open letter to COP26 President Alok Sharma and world leaders demanding that COP26 urgently commits to deliver finance on Loss and Damage. Loss and damage refers to unavoidable impacts of climate change that cannot be averted or minimized through adaptation and mitigation activities. The poorest and most vulnerable countries and communities least responsible for climate change are already facing the majority of its negative impacts, but finance to address these is lacking.
In addition to amplifying extreme weather events, climate change also causes or intensifies slow-onset processes such as sea-level rise, desertification, biodiversity loss or permafrost thaw. Both types of climate change impacts cause loss and damage, impede the enjoyment of human rights and can be drivers for human mobility.
