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• The 2019 edition of the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI)has been released which illustrates regional differences in climate protection and performance within the 56 evaluated countries and the EU.
• No country performed well enough to reach the ranking ‘very good’ in this year’s index.

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• The ranking results are defined by a country’s aggregated performance on 14 indicators within the four categories “GHG Emissions”, “Renewable Energy” and “Energy Use”, as well as on “Climate Policy.”
• Sweden leads the ranking, followed by Morocco and Lithuania. The bottoms five are Saudi Arabia, the United States, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Korea and Chinese Taipei.
• India ranks 11th, improving its standing by three places compared to the previous edition. Most notably India improved its performance in the Renewable Energy category, joining the group of medium performers.

Category wise performance of countries

       GHG Emissions

• Sweden is the best performing country. Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Korea and Saudi Arabia are the bottom three countries.
• Generally, mitigation targets for 2030 are too low and not on track for a pathway towards well below 2°C or even 1.5°C warming.
• Comparatively low levels of per capita GHG emissions and a relatively ambitious mitigation target for 2030 give India an overall high rating in the emissions category.

       Renewable Energy

• Latvia leads the ranking in this category. Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Russia are the bottom three.

       Energy Use

• Ukraine, Malta and Morocco as well as Romania remain the frontrunners in this category, mostly due to low current levels of energy use and relatively good ratings regarding a 2°C-compatible pathway in this category.
• While emerging economies tend to perform well in this category, Thailand, Turkey, Algeria, India and Indonesia have been rapidly increasing their energy use in the past few years.

             Policy Category

• Portugal, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and Morocco all scored high regarding national and international climate policy.
• Australia, Turkey and the United States form the group of the worst-performing countries.
• It is noteworthy that many countries, including Germany, Canada and the United Kingdom for example, are performing relatively well on the international stage, yet seem to be failing to implement policy measures sufficiently at the national level.
  
  

  Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) It is an instrument designed to enhance transparency in international climate politics. Its aim is to put political and social pressure on those countries that have, until now, failed to take ambitious action on climate protection, and to highlight those countries with best practice climate policies. The index is published by Germanwatch, the New Climate Institute and the Climate Action Network. On the basis of standardised criteria, the index evaluates and compares the climate protection performance of 56 countries and the European Union (EU), which are together responsible for more than 90% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In 2017 the methodology of the CCPI was revised, to fully incorporate the Paris Agreement, which marked a milestone in the international climate negotiations. For the first time, it is possible to measure states based on the promises that they themselves formulated in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The CCPI captures NDCs and other promises and evaluates the countries' 2030 targets within the important categories – “GHG Emissions”, “Renewable Energy” and “Energy Use” – to determine if they are on track to a well-below-2°C pathway. The CCPI also reflects countries' current performances towards this pathway in absolute terms, in addition to the relative indicators measuring the current level and past trends in all three categories. 40% of the evaluation is based on indicators of Emissions, 20% on Renewable Energies and 20% on Energy Use. The remaining 20% of the CCPI evaluation is based on national and international climate policy assessments by experts from the respective countries.