Portugal Named One of the Most Eco-Friendly Countries in the World
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The UN Climate Change Conference in Doha is connected to the presentation of the annual Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI). According to the eighth annual CCPI, Portugal ranks sixth among the countries that have achieved the best climate protection performance worldwide.
The CCPI 2013 ranks the performance of 58 countries that have highest emissions. Together, these 58 countries are responsible for over 90 percent of the global carbon dioxide emissions.
Though countries other than Portugal have achieved a lot in terms of creating and enforcing green laws and regulations, many have failed executing such programs efficiently and decreasing their harmful emissions.
Portugal is one of the countries that have managed to achieve significant reduction in the greenhouse emissions. It has moved up from the 14th position that it received in the previous edition of the CCPI.
The researchers working on the performance index refused to name the top three countries due to the lack of commitment and ambition in terms of introducing green laws and regulations. As a result, Portugal moved up to the third position in the ranking.
Portugal is one of the biggest surprises of the UN Climate Change Conference. The country introduced numerous eco-friendly policies. It has also invested in reducing the greenhouse emissions. Other excellent performers that have surprised the conference include Italy, Spain, Ireland and Greece.
Brazil and Indonesia moved down the index because deforestation figures were used for the first time to assess national performance. Previously, Brazil used to appear among the best performing countries in the CCPI.
The other two countries included in the top three of the CCPI are Denmark and Sweden. Other European countries like Poland and the Netherlands had unsatisfactory performance, which ranked them towards the bottom of the annual index. According to Team Leader for German and European Climate Policy at Germanwatch jan Burck, some countries have benefited from the economic crisis that led to a reduction in emissions.
US and China are once again seen as the two biggest greenhouse gas emitters in the world. The United States decision to pursue alternative sources of energy, however, is expected to result in a better positioning in the near future.
China, despite the fact that it currently ranks 54th, is also beginning an investment program that is expected to increase the use of renewable sources for energy production.
The country that appears at the very bottom of the list is Saudi Arabia. Qatar, the country that hosted the UN Climate Change Conference registered an even worse performance, which excluded it from the CCPI list.
Despite the fact that various countries have improved their performance, significant fossil fuel investment has diminished the efficiency of the overall climate protection performance. Norway and Iceland are the two countries that have invested the most in renewable energy sources. Almost all of Norway’s electricity is produced from renewable sources but the country is seeing a significant increase in the energy produced from natural gas.
Canada was named the worst performer of all Western countries. So far, it has demonstrated no willingness to introduce any serious changes to its climate policy. Iran and Kazakhstan are two other bad performers because of the extensive dependence on fossil fuels. The top 10 greenhouse gas emitters were actually exceptionally bad in terms of performance and they are responsible for over 60 percent of the global CO2 emissions.
Researchers rely on 15 different criteria to assess the greenhouse emission of the countries. The results are measured and counted together to calculate the overall climate change performance index.
The indicators are generally put under four categories like efficiency, emissions, renewable energies and climate policy. These are used to transparently assess the moves that national governments are taking towards greener policies aimed at a reduction of greenhouse emissions. So far, researchers are unimpressed with the overall progress of countries and their decisiveness to actively incorporate climate change regulations in their national policies.
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Published in: Guide to Portugal / Portuguese Life / Travel