Ranking countries for their climate actions

Abstract

At the time of writing, the latest iteration of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Climate Change, CoP25, is underway in Madrid. As it gets into its stride, negotiators continue to squabble not only over what it is going to discuss but, perhaps more seriously, over what it is actually allowed to do. Yet climate scientists are almost unanimous that unless global warming is checked, the planet’s capacity to support its growing population will be significantly undermined. Meanwhile, the World Meteorological Organisation’s ‘Emission’s Gap Report’ (WMO 2019) confirms that whilst the cost of cutting emissions is rising, the biggest emitters and world’s richest nations are some way off meeting what they themselves have pledged voluntarily by way of mitigation. It is against the backdrop of such prevarication some would say complacency that I have invited Farrukh Khan to join in preparation of the ‘Carte Blanche’ contribution in this issue. We are suggesting that more needs to be done to supplement the Paris Agreement’s voluntary regime, with a relatively simple transparent and deliverable process that both increases scrutiny and accountability. To this end, a ‘name and shame’ strategy that scores and ranks countries for their climate action might be a sensible way forward to accelerate the process of combating climate change. Proliferating inter-governmental institutions, non-state actors, and climate networks have created a spaghetti bowl within which it is nearly impossible to determine who is responsible, and how any of the participants can be held accountable, for their actions to address climate change. There simply isn’t a proper compliance mechanism within the climate regime. Policing and ensuring compliance with the ambition of the Paris Agreement requires a radical departure from the current voluntary peer-to-peer acquiescence and bottom-up attempts to counteract the unfolding climate catastrophe. It’s time to hold both countries and all others making climate action commitments accountable, obliging them to deliver on their promises by ranking them for their efforts and results. Climate change has fast become the most important global challenge that we have ever faced. The gap between what is needed and the existing national pledges, socalled Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), is clearly failing to slow the pace of global warming. Current global pledges to counteract climate change are abysmally low. To limit global warming to below the Paris Agreement goal of 2 C, and to pursue even more strenuous efforts to limit the temperature increase to only 1.5 C, the world needs to massively scale up its efforts. Scientific assessment suggests that tripling of the existing commitments is required to stay within the 2 C warming threshold, with