In this study, the mitigation efforts of the G20 countries, which account for around 80 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, have been assessed
India, with a Climate Performance Index score of 0.76, has been classified as a leader among the G20 nations striving to mitigate climate change. With 0.75 scores, Italy stands in second place followed by Indonesia. Climate Performance Index: A Study of the Performance of G20 Countries in Mitigation has been published by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF).
The G20 nations, which collectively account for around 80 per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, are evaluated for their mitigation efforts in this study.
The United Kingdom, Turkey, Germany, France, and the European Union come in second and third place in terms of climatic performance, respectively, while the US, Canada, Russia, and Saudi Arabia rank last, according to the survey.
India’s sincere efforts towards mitigating the climate crisis are being highlighted at a time when the country is helming the G20 nations as its president.
The report states, “India, an emerging economy, ranks first among all G20 members in terms of overall climate performance, owing to its significantly low per capita contributions to carbon and GHG emissions; very limited share in legacy emissions relative to its population needs; least rate of per capita energy use; and significant efforts towards, not only preserving, but also expanding its climate-regulating land cover by 6 percent compared its 1992 levels. The country has also done well in undertaking climate policy initiatives and limiting the unbridled expansion of climate-altering land cover.”
Highlighting the two frontrunners in the G20 - India and Italy, the study has credited its mitigation efforts to India’s EV policy, the National Green Hydrogen Mission and the Smart Cities Mission.
To advance as a leader and solve disparities in carbon footprints across the population, there is, however, a great deal of room for improvement in enhancing energy efficiency in production. According to the report, there is still great space for improvement in terms of raising manufacturing energy efficiency and resolving differences in carbon footprints among various population segments. Emerging economies within the G20 frequently fare marginally better than advanced ones.
The research suggested that India used its G20 presidency to persuade other G20 members to agree that equitable distribution of the global carbon budget is necessary to advance climate action.
The report also recommended that India could think about utilising its G20 leadership as a chance to win over other members to Mission LiFE. The institutional, financial, regulatory, and technical ecosystem required for the successful implementation of this programme can be started under India's presidency.
The majority of G20 countries have not performed satisfactorily in terms of the proportion of renewable energy consumption in total final energy consumption.
Actually, the two countries that do the best in terms of this statistic are Brazil and India.
India's G20 presidency may place a significant emphasis on developing its renewable energy capacity and implementing related regulations.
None of the G20 members have implemented measures to phase out or even eliminate subsidies for fossil fuels. Urban planning and construction-related policies have the lowest levels of coverage across all targeted industries; only about 47 per cent of G20 nations have adopted or implemented relevant instruments, compared to 73 per cent who have domestic regulations addressing the reduction of emissions from the land transport industry.
When it comes to the overall climate performance of the European nations - Germany, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, and other EU members, have performed better than that of the North American nations among the advanced economies.
Canada and the US have performed poorly on the majority of climate performance measures, especially with regards to per capita CO2 emissions from fossil fuel consumption and the proportion of cumulative global carbon emissions to the cumulative global population. Out of all the G20 nations, Saudi Arabia has made the least progress in reducing global warming, partly because of its high reliance on fossil fuels for economic expansion.
The analysis employs a Climate Performance Index (CPI) to assess how well the G20 countries are doing at reducing climate change. It takes into account a country’s past historical emissions, per-person CO2 emissions, demographics like population, and the stage of economic and human development.
The CPI, created by German Watch, and the Climate Action Tracker (CAT), produced by Climate Analytics and the New Climate Institute, are the two most widely used indices used in the index. Theil Index of Carbon Inequality, an indicator that reflects contributions to historic emissions, and energy efficiency of production (GDP per unit of primary energy consumption) are among the new indicators included in ORF's index.