Portugal moves up one position in the Climate Change Performance Index

Portugal has moved up one position in the Climate Performance Index to 13th place in the list assessing the climate policies of 63 countries and published this Friday at COP28 in Dubai.

As in previous years, the top three spots in the ranking remain vacant as no country fully supports the goal of keeping global warming to 1.5°C.

Portugal, ranked 13th in the index, or 10th by the number of countries listed, is among the countries with a “high” classification, the environmental association Zero emphasized in a statement, noting that it is the second highest classification in the ranking. index, with the highest one remaining vacant.

The Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI in its original acronym), published for the 19th year in a row, measures the effectiveness of each country’s climate policies and is calculated to include progress in mitigating climate change in 63 countries and the European Union, which account for 90% of emissions. World.

Four categories are assessed: greenhouse gas emissions (with a weight of 40%), renewable energy (20%), energy use (20%) and climate policy (20%).

In the list released this Friday at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28), Denmark, Estonia and the Philippines top the list, while India, the world’s most populous country along with China, is in 7th place.

The world’s largest emitter, China, remains the 51st-lowest performing country, while the United States, the second-largest emitter, ranks 57th.

India, Germany (14th) and the European Union (16th) are the only three G20 members with a high ranking, while the others are ranked low or very low: Canada (62nd), Russia (63rd) -th place), South Korea (64th place) and Saudi Arabia (67th place) in the worst places.

Zero, which took part in the CCPI, notes that “Brazil, a G20 country, rose 15 places to 23rd place” thanks to “more progressive climate policies.”

The UK fell from 11th to 20th place due to the government making concessions in several areas of climate legislation, and Poland, in 54th place, is the only EU country with a very low ranking, he points out.

COP28 host the United Arab Emirates is in 65th place, one of the worst-performing countries.

Zero highlights that “Portugal is a country that performs well in this year’s CCPI, with an average score in climate policy and renewable energy, and a high level of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.”

He notes that Portugal cut emissions by 2.8% in 2021, but warns that it needs to “step up its efforts.”

“Portugal’s current long-term goal includes achieving climate neutrality by 2045, but in reality the country must achieve neutrality by 2040 to meet the Paris Agreement target of reducing temperatures by 1.5°C,” he emphasizes.

Zero states that Portugal aims to reach an 80% share of renewable energy in electricity generation by 2026 (it is currently around 60% in a normal year), but emphasizes that “decentralized solar power already installed or planned by 2030 is good lower than desirable compared to centralized solar energy.”

On fossil fuel subsidies, Zero argues that the period envisaged by the government to phase them out by 2030 should be shortened.

He also believes that “Portugal needs to significantly improve” its efforts in the transport sector, saying emissions from road transport are rising.

For industry, the Climate Act requires a Green Industrial Strategy to be ready by February 2024, but Zero says there are “no known steps to prepare it or put it out for public consultation.”

For environmentalists, agriculture is “another worrying sector” that is recording “a rising trend in emissions and an increase in their relative weight in national emissions.”