Germanwatch report – Greece up 10 places in the climate performance ranking

Greece has risen 10 places in the international ranking in terms of Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) according to the report compiled annually since 2005 by the Germanwatch Institute.

Thus, this year Greece is in 24th place among 64 countries (from 34th last year) and is now ranked in the middle of the table, in a year when the position of the European Union as a whole fell by 6 points.

Improvement factors

The factors highlighted in the report that led to the improvement of the country’s position are:

– The de-lignification program.

– The new climate law announced by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during his speech at the UN Climate Conference held in Glasgow.

– The revision of the National Energy and Climate Plan (NESC) in order to align with the new more ambitious EU targets for reducing carbon emissions by 2030.

– The subsidy program for the purchase of electric vehicles.

– Forest legislation.

K. Hatzidakis: The report is a resounding response to the spiteful opposition of SYRIZA

In a post on social media, the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, former Minister of Environment & Energy, Kostis Hatzidakis, emphasized that the report is a resounding response to SYRIZA’s passionate opposition to the government’s environmental policy, noting that the rise in policies that started in 2019 or 2020 and others that continued in 2021, with Costas Skrekas as Minister of Environment & Energy and all other collaborators, “his now and mine before”.

“The reason I refer to this report is because the government, but also I personally, have heard from the train about most of these interventions”, says Mr. Hatzidakis and adds:

“The “Left of Ecology” is defending, for example, lignite! They refused to give a positive vote on the bill for electric mobility, considering it as they called it a class issue, perhaps because it subsidized electric taxis! And of course even now Mr. Tsipras when referring to the environmental law (law 4685/2020) -which we passed in May 2020- continues to characterize it as an “environmental killer” and “forest killer”. It is the same law that is praised in this report. But also the same law that was recently deemed constitutional by the Council of State, which in its reasoning recognizes that Article 48 on forest maps – for which the appeal was filed – “is in line with the constitutional purposes of both environmental protection and and sustainable spatial restructuring ”.

So we do not give up the sensitivity on the environment either to Mr. Tsipras or to any professional “defender” of the environment. We are the ones who put forward de-lignification. We are the ones who advanced “Save-Become Autonomous”. We are the ones who simplified the licensing of RES. We are the ones who promoted the underwater electricity interconnections of Crete and the Cyclades. We are the ones who started the auction for the creation of 20 modern waste treatment plants. We are the ones who proceeded with the law for the withdrawal of disposable plastics, from July 1, 2021. We are the ones who passed the spatial planning law, for the control of off-plan construction and green development. We are the ones who prepared the National Reforestation Plan. We are the ones who planned the green actions of the Recovery Fund that will absorb 37.5% of the total budget! With actions for Natura areas, the natural environment in general and green growth.

Omissions may have been made. Mistakes may have been made. And of course there is still a lot to be done, because climate change is a huge challenge for us and our children. We are open to bona fide criticism, but in no case will we compromise with the audacity of SYRIZA, which when it was a government repeatedly sent the country to the Court of Justice of the European Union. And as the opposition it supports lignite, but it is constantly waving its finger.”

Criteria

It is noted that the criteria considered for the ranking of countries are: greenhouse gas emissions, renewable sources, energy efficiency and climate policy. The authors of the report believe that no country has performed well in all areas and for this reason they left the first three places of the ranking empty. The best performance was achieved by three Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Sweden, Norway) while in the last three places are oil-producing countries: Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan.