Lithuania tops emerging Europe in Climate Change Performance Index

Lithuania has been ranked highest among the countries of emerging Europe in the 2020 edition of the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI), an annual ranking by Germanwatch, the New Climate Institute and the Climate Action Network (CAN).

In a list of 57 countries, Lithuania was ranked eighth globally, down from the sixth place last year, with a score of 66.22. Ranked second best performing country in the region, Latvia fell eight places to 15th globally with a score of 60.75 points. Ukraine came in third in the region and 17th globally, climbing one spot compared with last year, scoring 60.60 points.

Croatia scored 56.97 points and was ranked fourth in the region and 20th globally. Romania, the region’s fifth best performer, was ranked 24th globally with 54.85 points. Slovakia (ranked 27th globally) scored 52.69 points while Estonia, in 31st place, had a score of 48.05 points.

The report’s lower performing countries from emerging Europe include Belarus (ranked 40th with 44.18 points), the Czech Republic (ranked 43th with 42.93 points), Slovenia (44th; 41.91 points) and Hungary (47th; 41.17 points).

Bulgaria fell nine spots and was ranked with 49 globally with 40.12 points while Poland, having fallen nine spots, was ranked emerging Europe’s worst performer and 50th globally with 39.98 points.

“Bulgaria and Poland are the worst performing EU countries, both with a very low policy rating and Poland with low to very low results on renewable energy,” the report found.

The ranking for 2020 was defined by a country’s aggregated performance in 14 indicators within four categories: greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, energy use and climate policy.