Why in news?

• Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2024 was released on the sidelines of the ongoing COP28 at Dubai.
• India ranked 7th in this year’s Climate Change Performance Index, up one spot from the previous one.

What’s in today’s article?

• Change Performance Index (CCPI)
• News Summary

Change Performance Index (CCPI)

• About
  • CCPI is a scoring system that measures the climate protection performance of countries. It was first published in 2005.
  • It is designed to improve transparency in international climate politics.
• Function
  • The CCPI uses a standardized framework to compare the climate performance of 63 countries and the EU, which together account for over 90% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
  • The climate protection performance is assessed in four categories: GHG Emissions, Renewable Energy, Energy Use and Climate Policy.
  • The analysis also reports on the extent to which each country is taking actions in the areas of emissions, renewable energy and energy use in order to achieve the climate goals set in Paris.
• Ranking
  • Based on each country's overall score.
• Published by
  • Germanwatch, the New Climate Institute and the Climate Action Network publish the index annually.

News Summary: India climate action fourth strongest

• India’s climate actions were rated the fourth strongest in an annual performance index released by Germanwatch.

Key highlights of the report

• Top performers
  • Denmark retained the top spot with a score of 75.59 per cent.
    • It should be noted that none of these countries have been able to achieve a very high rating over the last few years.
    • Hence, the first three ranks are left vacant.
  • Estonia and the Philippines occupied the second and third ranks respectively, with 72.07 and 70.70.
    • India followed closely with 70.25 per cent.
  • Worst performers
    • Most developed countries fared poorly compared to last year including the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy and others.
    • Saudi Arabia was at the bottom
  • Steps needed
    • Despite the urgent need to decarbonise all sectors, global greenhouse gases (GHG) have increased in 2022 and atmospheric CO2 is now 50 per cent higher than pre-industrial levels.
    • CCPI countries must have an emissions peak by 2025 to keep the 1.5°C goal in reach.
    • Moreover, emissions must be halved by 2030 (vs 2020) levels.

India specific observation in the report

• Fourth best ranking in the index
  • India’s high population, which automatically reduces its per capita energy use, plays a major role in giving it a high position in climate performance.
• India’s rank in different categories
  • India was ranked 9th in GHG Emissions and 10th in Energy Use among assessed countries.
  • In Climate Policy too, India was ranked 10th.
  • In Renewable Energy, India is ranked 37th, barely remaining within the ‘high’ performance category.
• India on track to meet a benchmark of well below 2°C in per capita GHG category
• India’s coal use was pointed out
  • It said that while India is trying to meet its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) but India’s growing energy needs are still being met by its heavy reliance on coal, along with oil and gas.
  • This dependence is a major source of GHG emissions and causes severe air pollution, especially in the cities.
    • India is among the most air-polluted countries of the world.