Portugal in 14th place of the climate score

Portugal is among the countries with a high rating, having improved its position in the Climate Change Performance Index, released last week at COP27. In the table for 2023, it is in 14th place among 59 countries, up from 16th in the previous year.

Quercus and ZERO participated in COP27, and according to both the environmental associations “the CCPI is an important tool to increase transparency in the international climate policy, allowing the comparison of climate protection efforts and the progress made by each country”.

The purpose of the index is to “put political and social pressure on countries that, until now, have failed to take ambitious measures that contribute enough to global climate stability, and also to highlight countries with the best climate practices”.

Dependence on fossil fuels, echoed in the current energy crisis, continues to be a reality reflected in the index, even though there are countries with good performance that have made progress in climate mitigation by focusing on energy efficiency and renewable sources.

Portugal improved in pollutant gas emissions, which are now assessed as being at a mid-range level, allowing this category to climb 16 places compared to the previous year. The country’s ranking is also mid-range in the remaining three criteria that are assessed: energy use, renewable energy, and climate policy.

ZERO explained that Portugal has risen its position thanks to the closing of coal plants and the Climate Framework Law, published in February 2022, but has a poor performance in the transport, forestry, and agriculture sectors. “In what concerns climate policy, despite strengthening the Climate Law, the country lacks ambition in some respects, for example, fossil fuel subsidies will only end in 2030”. It was also pointed out that “transport-related emissions continue to increase, despite the investments planned for public transport”. The Portuguese environmental association has firmly criticised “the lack of support to expand sustainable agriculture and to prevent forest fires”.

According to ZERO and Quercus, in renewable energy, the rating is “high but more decentralised solar power is needed, as well as initiatives to decarbonise the electricity sector and promote energy efficiency”.

As last year, the top three places in the ranking remain vacant, whilst no country is fully aligned with the goal of keeping global warming within the 1,5°C threshold. Both Denmark and Sweden remain in the highest places, as last year.

The CCPI Index is based on the latest set of statistics provided by the International Energy Agency for the year 2020 (the latest available) and an expert assessment of current performance with regard to climate policies, at national and international scale.

The Climate Change Performance Index is the responsibility of the German environmental non-governmental organization Germanwatch and the NewClimate Institute, and it is published in conjunction with the International Climate Action Network (CAN International).

The index lists 59 countries and the European Union, collectively responsible for around 90% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The four categories evaluated are: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) (40% weight in the final classification), Renewable Energy (20%), Energy Use (20%) and Climate Policy (20%).

The latter is based on expert assessments from non-governmental organizations and think tanks in the respective countries. Within the Emissions, Renewable Energy and Energy Use categories, the CCPI also assesses what measures are or are not being taken towards the Paris Agreement's global objective of containing global warming well below 2°C.