Canada is near the bottom of the barrel in a study that ranked countries based on their climate-change performances.
The study, released Friday by environmental organizations Germanwatch and Climate Action Network Europe, compared the 56 countries who produce an estimated 90 per cent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions.
The countries were ranked based on the amount of emissions they produced over the past year, the amount of reductions they made to their emissions levels and the strength of their climate-change policies.
The five lowest ranked countries, starting with the worst, were:
- Saudi Arabia
- The United States
- Australia
- Canada
- Luxembourg
The five best countries were:
- Sweden
- Germany
- Iceland
- Mexico
- India
Canada, with its overall ranking of 53rd out of 56 countries, has fallen from last year, when it was ranked 51st.
“The [Canadian] government is still not making a serious effort to cut greenhouse gas pollution, and that leaves Canada at the back of the pack,” Matthew Bramley of the Pembina Institute said in a news release.
The Pembina Institute, a Canadian environmental organization, contributed to the study.
“The gap between the government’s rhetoric and its action to date severely weakens Canada’s credibility here in Bali,” Bramley said…
Bramley said Canada could have boosted its ranking over last year by at least 20 positions, to the middle of the pack, if it had strengthened its government policies overseeing areas like industrial emissions.
“Minister Baird is taking some highly obstructive positions coming into these negotiations, particularly the kinds of demands that he’s making of developing countries,” Bramley said.
“When we see how poorly Canada is performing on climate change, it really points to a kind of hypocrisy in Canada’s approach.”
(via CBC)
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