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For release December 14, 2009
 
Pembina Reacts:
Canada Next to Last in Climate Change Performance Index

Matthew Bramley, Director of the Pembina Institute’s Climate Change Program, made the following statement in response to today’s release in Copenhagen of the annual Climate Change Performance Index, in which Canada again finished in 56th place out of the 57 countries evaluated:

 “Canada’s performance is the worst in the industrialized world — a result of its high emissions, its lack of national policies capable of substantially cutting those emissions, and its unconstructive role to date in international negotiations. Among the world’s major emitters, only Saudi Arabia is performing worse.

Minister Prentice committed earlier this year to come to Copenhagen with a ‘full suite of policies that relate to all major sources of emissions;’ his decision not to fulfil that commitment is one reason why Canada has failed to improve over last year’s ranking.

The last few days of the Copenhagen summit now provide Prime Minister Harper with a crucial opportunity to improve Canada’s performance by increasing our level of ambition on emission reductions and committing to our fair share of both short- and long-term financing for poorer countries.”

The Climate Change Performance Index is based 50% on a country’s emissions trends, 30% on its emissions level relative to population, and 20% on its national and international policies on climate change. The Pembina Institute contributed the detailed evaluation of Canada’s policies, which can be downloaded here.

The Pembina Institute is a non-partisan sustainable energy think tank.

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For more information:
 
Matthew Bramley 
Director, Climate Change 
In Copenhagen at +45-2698-0968