Developing countries are rising stars of emissions reductions
No commentsDeveloping nations are playing a growing role in global reductions of greenhouse gas emissions and Brazil now ranks ahead of all developed and developing nations, thanks its efforts to reduce deforestation.
So says the annual climate change performance index, published today by non-governmental organizations Germanwatch and Climate Action Network-Europe.
However, the index’s first three places remain empty as not one of the 57 nations listed is doing enough to limit temperatures from rising above two degrees Celsius, said co-author Jan Burck from Germanwatch.
The index highlights other large developing nations such as India (9th place), Mexico (11th), Indonesia (23rd) and South Africa (29th). Indonesia for instance has pledged to reduce its emissions by 26 per cent from business as usual by reducing deforestation.
These countries are also engaging actively in international climate-change negotiations, says Matthias Duwe, executive director of Climate Action Network-Europe.
“Their historical role [as emitters] is not as significant, but they are [now] big emitters and they see that climate change is an issue for them,” he said.
Sweden, usually a reliable performer in this index, now sits one spot below Brazil. Duwe said Sweden had failed to secure the top place as it no made any significant policy improvements or actions in the UN climate-change negotiations.
In contrast to the developing countries, European Union members such as Germany (7th), France (8th), and Denmark (17th) have slipped down the scale since last year.
The United States has improved on last year’s performance, largely because of the change in administration, but is still down in 53rd place.
China, the world’s largest emitter of global greenhouse gas, was deemed to be performing worse than last year, because of its rising emissions.
The report ranks all countries that produce at least per cent of global emissions. It is based on data from the International Energy Agency and contributions from 130 experts on national climate policies.
The index was derived from an assessment of each country’s emission trends in various sectors (energy, transport, residential, and industry), total emissions and climate policy.
In the case of Indonesia, although emissions from deforestation were not counted in the performance, the national policy of reducing emission through deforestation contributed to them being the second best among Asian countries, between India and Thailand.
Burck says policy itself is not enough. Indonesia still has to improve its forest protection plan, he said, adding that next year’s index will also take account of emissions caused through land use change.
India and Indonesia have the lowest per-capita emissions of the countries listed. But being the world’s fourth most populous country, says Burck, Indonesia’s emissions are not to be taken lightly.
“In the last five years, the highest growth [among Indonesia’s emissions) is in transportation,” he said.
Burck said that as Java is Indonesia’s most populous island, it has the greatest capacity to reduce its emissions. “Other islands are living in different, more simple standards,” he said.
He added that strong performance of the large developing countries shows there is a window of opportunity for creating a low-carbon economy. “This is the chance for developing countries to avoid making the same mistake that developed countries made in building their economies … to not use coal and go directly to renewable energy.”
The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that around 60 per cent of global electricity will need to be produced without emissions in order limit the rising temperature to no more than two degrees. The IEA says this would require 37 per cent to be from renewable sources, 18 per cent from nuclear and the rest from generator that capture and store carbon before it reaches the atmosphere.
The IEA’s executive director Nobuo Tanaka, says that by 2030, all conventional coal power plants in Japan, Europe, and United States would need to close down to achieve the emissions cuts needed to avoid a two degree temperature increase.
Another dramatic change the IEA recommends is to increase the proportion of car sales that are hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and electric cars from one per cent today to 60 per cent by 2030.
The IEA also makes energy efficiency a priority. It says an investment worth US$10.5 trillion by 2030 would deliver a US$8.6 trillion saving through lower energy bills for industry, housing, and transportation.
The IEA says such moves could allow global emissions to decline by 2020 and be lower than current levels by 2030. It warns however that even a year of delay would cost US$500 billion and make it harder to reach the two-degree target.
The agency said current pledges made by nations will not be enough to reach that target but would lead instead to an increase in global average temperature of three degrees Celsius.
In October, the IEA said the financial crisis had caused the growth of emissions from the energy sector to fall by three per cent, buying extra time for the sector to start converting to renewable sources.
