In a recent report issued by global climate change watchdogs, Sweden was ranked as doing the most to tackle greenhouse emissions. The Climate Change Performance Index is a ranking put together by the NGOs Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe and Germanwatch. Saudi Arabia was placed at the bottom of the list.
The NGOs, however, were not exactly extolling the virtues of Sweden concerning greenhouse gas emissions, or any other nation for that matter. “Not a single country is to be judged as satisfactory with regard to protecting the climate,” the NGOs jointly commented to the AP news service. They added that no single country was showing the dedication needed to avoid the dangers of future climate change.
Dangerous climate change is categorised by the NGOs as a temperature increase of two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The Climate Change Performance Index looks at the 57 countries that together emit more than 90 per cent of the world’s yearly carbon dioxide output.
Last year, the top three spots went to Sweden, Germany, and Iceland, while the worst offenders were Australia, the US and Saudi Arabia. The European Union considers the 2?C temperature increase as the benchmark for a global environmental crisis.