In a drop from last year’s third place, Norway is now behind Scandinavian cousin Sweden in fourth, up one from last year. No countries qualified for the top three CCPI positions, Saudi Arabia maintained its position at the bottom of the table, coming 61^st.  

According to developers Germanwatch, an NGO, the CCPI is an annual ranking which, “compares those 58 countries that together are responsible for more than 90 percent of annual worldwide carbon diox­ide emissions. Their climate change performance is evaluated according to uniform criteria and the re­sults are ranked.”

The organization presented this year’s findings in South African Durban today, together with CAN-Europe.

Jan Burck, Author of the Index at Germanwatch, says, “This year's Index shows worrying results. The worldwide addiction to coal has not been stopped, but rather increased. 80 percent of the index is influenced by emissions trends and absolute emissions levels."

Iran, China, Russia, Canada, and the US, five of the ten biggest emitters coming 60^th, 57^th, 56^th, 54^th and 52^nd, respectively, were given a “very poor” rating. Norway is also classed as “very poor” in terms of emissions assessed on trends and levels, as well as its climate policy. Sweden and Denmark were classified as “very good”.

“It’s better to be top than receive a average score, generally speaking,” Audun Garberg, political advisor in the Ministry of Environment, tells NRK.

Somewhat disappointed, he continues, “the competition is pretty stiff, and differences between the top countries are small. It’s [the CCPI] is certainly not a scientific ranking, and we get little in return for our international efforts.”

The Norwegian government will be presenting new emissions-fighting measures in the spring.

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