Press

Renewable energy is making rapid progress in almost every high-emitting country. However, too many countries are still clinging to prolonging the fossil fuels business model, especially for gas. This is shown in the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI 2025) published today by Germanwatch, NewClimate Institute,and CAN International. Each year, the CCPI assesses the progress made by the largest emitters worldwide in terms of emissions, renewables and climate policy.

The environment and development organization Germanwatch is deeply concerned about the outcome of the US presidential elections. “Donald Trump's election victory has the potential to fundamentally reshape the world order that we have seen since the Second World War. Germanwatch is committed to global justice and the protection of human rights and the fundamentally threatened ecological foundations of life. Donald Trump has announced that the United States will oppose progress in all these areas,” says Christoph Bals, Policy Director of Germanwatch.

Along with over 54.000 claimants, Germanwatch and Greenpeace filed a complaint before the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany to demand a climate law that protects fundamental rights and liberties as well as concrete steps to reduce CO2 emissions in the transport sector.

The environment and development organization Germanwatch welcomes the agreement reached by the Foreign Ministers of Germany, France and Poland to include trilateral cooperation in climate foreign policy as one of the three pillars of the Weimar Agenda. To this end, they launched the Green Weimar Triangle yesterday. "It is a good decision to give the Weimar Triangle an additional green pillar. Germany, Poland and France are sending an important signal shortly before the European elections: climate protection should be a high priority for the EU and is a central component of security policy in Europe and the world," says Lutz Weischer, Head of Germanwatch's Berlin office.

On the occasion of the launch of the “Mecanismo de Reclamación de Derechos Humanos” (MRDH) in Mexico City, in English known as “cross-company grievance mechanism”, civil society organizations involved draw an overall positive conclusion. After 4.5 years of thorough dialogue between companies, unions, governments, national human rights institutions, and civil society, first in Germany and then with Mexican actors, the mechanism is now open to complaints.

Today, Germanwatch, NewClimate Institute, and CAN International published the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2024. It monitors the climate mitigation progress of 63 countries and the European Union, together responsible for more than 90% of global emissions. In recent years, governments around the world have increasingly placed climate action on their agenda, and renewable energy is booming in many countries. However, this still is not enough. The race against time continues: global emissions must nearly halve by 2030, and reducing the use of fossil fuels should account for most of that.

Germanwatch welcomes the launch of the pilot phase of the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) this Sunday as a major milestone in European climate policy. Christoph Bals, Policy Director of Germanwatch, says: "With the introduction of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, the EU has achieved a coup: By levelling the international playing field for industrial companies, it enables high carbon prices in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme ETS and thus sends an important signal that it is serious about its industry’s transition to climate-neutrality. The CBAM also creates an incentive for EU's trading partner economies worldwide to speed up their transformation."

The environmental and development organisation Germanwatch points out that fossil fuel companies will have to disclose climate risks in their risk reports and have them externally audited. The reason for this is a new study by a team of researchers from the renowned London School of Economics and Political Science, which shows a clear connection between climate litigation and share price losses of affected companies.

The current energy crisis clearly demonstrates how the world remains dependent on fossil fuels. However, there is a number of countries that have a better standing than others. They took ambitious steps in climate mitigation and rapidly developed energy efficiency and renewable energies. Today, Germanwatch, NewClimate Institute and CAN International published the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2023, a ranking of the 59 largest emitters worldwide

Together with the NewClimate Institute and the Climate Action Network (CAN International), Germanwatch will present the "Climate Change Performance Index 2023" (CCPI) at the COP 27 in Sharm el Sheikh. For the 18th time in a row, the index compares the climate protection performance of the 59 largest CO2 emitters (plus the European Union as a whole).