Russia ranks 52nd out of 61 countries worldwide for its adoption of climate change goals, according to the 2020 Climate Change Performance Index.
Presented at the COP25 climate talks in Madrid, the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) ranking illustrates differences in climate protection among 57 high-emitting countries as well as the EU. It ranks countries by their aggregated performance in 14 indicators relating to greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, energy use and climate policy.
Russia received “low” or “very low” scores in all four categories, the report published by the Germanwatch NGO on Tuesday said.
The report’s authors criticized Russian policymakers for lacking a strategy to lower carbon levels by 2050 and having no plan for phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, with new coal terminals currently under construction.
“The country’s renewable energy target of 2.5% by 2024 and 4% by 2035 is by far too unambitious” to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the authors said.
“Therefore, Russia is rated very low for its national climate policy performance,” they said.
The CCPI report highlighted Russia’s ratification of the Paris Agreement as a positive step, but also noted a “significant discrepancy between the positive wording and the weak implementation of Russia’s overall low-rated climate policy.”
Kazakhstan was the only post-Soviet country to place lower than Russia.
The top three spots in the CCPI ranking were left blank to illustrate that no country is performing well enough to receive a “very high” rating, its authors said. Sweden, Denmark and Morocco were ranked the fourth, fifth and sixth best performers, while the U.S. for the first time was named the worst-performing country.
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