Australia Ranks Last On Policy Response To Climate Crisis – CCPI Ranking
Australia's latest climate policies are failing and rank last according to an assessment of 60 countries
Written by Victoria Kent, Senior Investment Specialist
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
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Not in it to win it. Australia ranks last on policy response to climate crisis.
Boy oh boy, it’s embarrassing to be last. Especially in the race to save the planet.
Australian government's climate crisis policy response ranks last according to an assessment of 60 countries.
Recently, our government confirmed its long-term emissions reduction plan – aiming for net zero by 2050 by doing things "the Australian way".
This policy has been strongly criticized both at home and abroad.
According to the CCPI, major policy failings include the continuation of fossil fuel-based energy consumption, as well as optimistic estimates of yet to be invented new technology.
“Australia's international stranding has been damaged by climate denialism by politicians, refusal to increase ambition, and refusal to recommit to international green finance mechanisms".
Ouch.
Source: Based on McKinsey and DISER analysis
Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie says:
“Net zero by 2050 is a joke without strong emissions cuts this decade. Australia desperately needs to dramatically scale up renewable energy, phase out coal and gas and electrify our transport systems. Otherwise we miss out on the economic opportunities of the global transition and expose ourselves to the fire, flood and heat risks of climate change.”
Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI)
The Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) is an independent monitoring tool for tracking the climate protection performance of 60 countries and the EU. It has been published annually since 2005.
CCPI covers 92% of global greenhouse gas emissions and assesses countries across four categories – policy, emissions, renewables and energy use.
Top performing countries include Denmark, then Sweden, Norway, the UK and Morocco. Those on the naughty list are Kazakhstan, followed by Saudi Arabia, Iran, Canada and Taiwan.
While the CCPI is popular and used increasingly by financial actors to rate sovereign bonds – not everyone is a fan.
Australia's emissions reduction minister Angus Taylor has slammed the report’s credibility, saying “It employs a subjective, non-transparent, and non-replicable methodology for ranking countries’ performance, promoted by advocacy organisations to suit their own agendas.”
I guess when you come last, it's easier to blame the ref.
Putting aside pledges, politics and ranking, it's important to focus on what really matters.
As summarised by Griffith University climate researcher Wesley Morgan:
"the Earth system reacts to what we put in the atmosphere, not promises made at summits. So pledges need to be backed by finance, and the necessary policies and actions across energy and land use.”
From our perspective, Australia's woeful CCPI ranking brings home the reality that if we want real environmental action, we can’t leave it up to government policy – we need to take things into our own hands.
We strongly believe using your superpower is one of the most meaningful ways you can do this.