For the first time, no country receives a "good" for climate policy
No country is doing enough to comply with the 1.5 degree limit - this is the alarming conclusion of the annual climate protection index. According to the index, even previous pioneering countries are slipping down the rankings. Germany climbs up two places - but only receives mediocre marks in many categories.
Despite the worsening climate crisis, the climate policy of many countries is mediocre at best - this is the result of the annual climate protection index published by the environment and development organization Germanwatch at the World Climate Conference in Dubai (COP28). Even previous pioneering countries such as Denmark "appear to be further away from achieving the Paris climate targets today than in previous years", warned co-author Niklas Höhne from the NewClimate Institute.
For the first time since the first climate protection index in 2005, not a single country received a good rating in the "climate policy" sub-rating. Because, according to the authors of the study, none of the 63 countries examined in detail did enough to achieve a very good overall rating, the top three places in the Climate Protection Index remain empty, as in previous years. The top fourth place is once again occupied by Denmark, with three oil states bringing up the rear: the COP host country United Arab Emirates, Iran and finally Saudi Arabia in last place.
Germany climbed two places compared to the previous year to 14th place, but still only received moderate marks in the four survey categories of greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, energy use and climate policy. The reasons for this lie "primarily in a transport policy that is too weak in terms of climate policy, the weakening of the Climate Protection Act and an ultimately watered-down Building Energy Act", explained co-author Jan Burck from Germanwatch.
"Obstacle to ambitious climate policy"
According to the report, Germany is currently not doing enough to achieve its self-imposed goal of becoming greenhouse gas-neutral by 2045. Burck cites the "often conflicting climate policy ambitions within the coalition government" as "an obstacle to a more ambitious climate policy".
The authors of the report take a positive view of the measures taken by the SPD, Greens and FDP government to expand renewable energies and bring forward the coal phase-out from 2038 to 2030. However, two German coal-fired power plants are being operated for longer than planned and Germany is "still one of the nine countries worldwide that is responsible for 90 percent of coal production", the authors of the report criticize.
From an international perspective, a global boom in renewable energies, batteries, heat pumps and electromobility gives "reason for hope", according to the study. "Never before has so much capacity been installed worldwide as in 2022," it says. However, this growth must now also "continue exponentially in order to push back the still dominant fossil fuels".
Authors insist on "binding resolutions"
The authors of the report hope that the World Climate Conference in Dubai will provide a "boost for the necessary climate protection". To achieve this, however, the negotiators from almost 200 countries would have to make "binding decisions" to triple global renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency by 2030, as well as halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, in particular by reducing the use of fossil fuels such as oil and coal.
A commitment to the global phase-out of fossil fuels is a key point of contention that will determine the second week of negotiations that began on Friday. The conference is officially scheduled to end on December 12, but the possibility of overrunning it, as in previous years, cannot be ruled out.
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Source: www.ntv.de
