The 2020 Climate Change Performance Index released the top three vacancies in the United States at the bottom

On Tuesday, the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) was released at the Climate Summit in Madrid, reducing emissions and falling global coal consumption in 31 of the 57 high-emitting countries
.
But greater ambition and faster action
are needed.
For the first time
, the United States replaced Saudi Arabia as the worst performer.
Sweden continues to lead and Denmark rises
significantly in the rankings.

However, the extremely low performance of Australia, Saudi Arabia and especially the United States in terms of emissions and renewable energy development is worrying, showing the opposite trend
to global climate action.
With the three governments heavily influenced by the coal and oil lobby, there is little sign of serious climate policy
.

On the other hand, global coal consumption is declining and the boom in renewable energy continues
.
Of the 57 high-emitting countries assessed, 31 collectively emit 90% of their carbon, with trends in emissions declining
.

"The new Climate Change Performance Index shows signs of a turnaround in global emissions, including a decline
in coal consumption.
However, several large countries are still struggling to resist this trend, starting with the United States
.
We see an opportunity to halt the rise in global emissions, but much will depend on further development in China and elections in the United States
.
Both countries are at a crossroads", says
Ursula Hagen, a German observer and one of the authors of the index, jointly proposed by the New Climate Institute and the Climate Action Network (CAN).

From the perspective of Europe, the 8 EU countries performed very well, with Sweden ranking fourth and Denmark fifth
.
Since none of the countries assessed are already on a path to align with the Paris climate goals, the top three in the ranking are missing
.

However, Bulgaria (49th) and Poland (50th) are the worst performers in the EU, both with very low policy ratings, and Poland's renewable energy results are also very low
.
Ireland, the EU's worst-performing country, improved its ranking by seven places (41st) last year, with the EU overall ranking 22nd and Germany 23rd (both "medium"
).

As the largest carbon emitter, China performed well, rising again to 30th ("medium"
).
In recent years, China has achieved good results in increasing the share of renewable energy in the energy mix and its relatively high policy rating, but its performance in terms of emissions and energy efficiency remains a heavy burden
.

At the head of the ranking, only two G20 countries, the UK (7th) and India (9th), are listed in the "high" category, but the remaining eight G20 countries remain in
the worst category of the index ("very low").
Among them, Australia ranked 56th out of 61 countries, especially the United States, which performed particularly poorly, with the United States being the worst performer for the first time
.