Canada worst climate performer in developed world: report

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

WARSAW, Poland – The new edition of the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) was
released by CAN Europe and Germanwatch in Warsaw at the UN climate talks today. The results
show Canada to be the worst climate performer in the developed world, with no intention of
moving forward on climate policy. In its eight year, the report ranks 61 countries, collectively
responsible for more than 90% of global greenhouse gas emissions based on their progress on
tackling greenhouse gas emissions. Canada ranked at the bottom of the list at rank 58, with only
Iran (59th), Kazakhstan (60th) and Saudi Arabia (61st) being even worse on climate change.

“Canada loses points especially in the climate policy field,” said Christian Holz, Executive Director of Climate Action Network Canada. “For international climate policy, the federal government doesn’t even earn 1 out of 100 possible points, with national climate policy not being substantially better. This does not reflect the priorities of Canadians as recent polling shows that 84% of the people in this country want the federal government to take leadership on climate change.”

Examining Canada’s score in detail shows that the other areas of very weak performance are the
rate at which Canada is expanding its renewable energy capacity and the overall current level of
greenhouse gas emissions; both are areas where the federal government is currently missing in
action with no support for renewables at the federal level and too little too late for cutting
emissions.

Globally speaking, the report did offer a glimmer of hope: « Unexpectedly, for the first time our
Index also draws a cautious picture of hope », says Jan Burck of Germanwatch, the author of the
Index. « We see positive signals towards a slow down in the increase in global CO2 emissions.
And China – the world’s biggest emitter – improved its performance in climate protection. »
“Overall, the report shows that all countries have to do their homework and ramp up ambition on
cutting carbon pollution”, added Holz – the report left the top 3 ranks empty to signify that no
country is currently on track to make a sufficient contribution to solving the problem, “For
Canada this means that we a federal government that’s serious about transitioning away from oil,
coal and gas and toward safe, clean and renewable source of energy as global emissions have to
be completely phased out but the middle of this century in order to avoid the worst impacts of
climate change.”

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For more information, contact:
Dr. Christian Holz, Executive Director
Climate Action Network Canada – Réseau action climat Canada
Email: cholz@climateactionnetwork.ca
Toll Free: +1 855 CLIM NET (254=6638) ext. 24
Local phone in Warsaw: +48 795 665 642

About Climate Action Network Canada – Réseau action climat Canada:

Climate Action Network Canada – Réseau action climat Canada is the Canadian node of CAN. It
is a national network comprised of over 90 member organizations from across the country,
representing aboriginal, faith-based, labour and environmental NGOs. Climate Action Network
Canada is the only organization in the country with a mandate to promote the climate movement
as a whole, rather than the interests and programs of any one organization.

About Climate Change Performance Index 2014: https://germanwatch.org/en/ccpi

CCPI is a tool designed to enhance transparency in international climate politics, on the basis of
standardized criteria, the index evaluates and compares the climate protection performance of 58
countries that are together responsible for more than 90% of global energy-related CO2emissions.
80 percent of the evaluation is based on objective indicators of emissions trend and emissions
level. 20 percent of the index results are built upon national and international climate policy
assessments by more than 200 experts from the respective countries.