Green future index
Contents |
[edit] Introduction
The green future index was first published in 2021 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Technology Review Insights which is a publishing division of their Technology Review bimonthly magazine.
It is a ranking of 76 leading countries and territories on their progress and commitment toward building a low carbon future. It measures the degree to which their economies are pivoting toward clean energy, industry, agriculture, and society through investment in renewables, innovation, and green finance.
The rankings examine the economies relative to each other and aggregate scores generated across five pillars covering, carbon emissions, energy transition, green society, clean innovation and climate policy.
[edit] Green future index 2021
New momentum has been gained largely from the mounting tragedy of natural disasters, with the combined acreage destroyed by wildfires in California, Australia, and the Amazon in this year alone consuming a land area greater than Belarus. The bottom 15 countries in the index are called "Climate abstainers", due to an inability to create and hold to firm energy transition and policy, often against a backdrop of fossil fuel dependency. These include Japan which, despite recently renewed commitments, is ranked 60th—the country is still weighed down by legacy industries and the shadow of Fukushima. Inability to move policy and industrial frameworks beyond existing carbon-intensive economies drag down the scores of our lowest-ranking economies: Russia, Iran, Paraguay, and Qatar.
- Iceland 6.5 index score
- Denmark 6.4 index score
- Norway 6.2 index score
- France 6 index score
- Ireland 6 index score
- Finland 5.9 index score
- Costa Rica 5.8 index score
- New Zealand 5.7 index score
- Belgium 5.6 index score
- Netherlands 5.6 index score
- Germany 5.6 index score
- Sweden 5.5 index score
- Luxembourg 5.5 index score
- Canada 5.5 index score
- Austria 5.5 index score
- Singapore 5.5 index score
- United Kingdom 5.4 index score
- Spain 5.4 index score
- Switzerland 5.4 index score
- Uruguay 5.4 index score
The Green Future Index for 2021 can be visited here: https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/01/25/1016648/green-future-index/
[edit] Green future index 2022
16 countries from Europe are in the top 20. Iceland, remains at the top as one of two European countries that generated more electricity from renewables than it consumed. The UK has moved from 17 to 4 as a result of clean energy investment, whilst South Korea, Japan (previously at 60) and Canada enter the top 20, relating partly to world-leadership in green patents. China, has moved into 26th place from 45th making significant gains in greening its society, including buying more than half the world’s electric vehicles in 2021. Costa Rica, Singapore and New Zealand are among countries that have fallen down the rankings. It is important to note that the figures used for the green future index 2022 were prior to the beginning of the war in Ukraine and the onset of the interconnected energy crisis associated with Russian Gas supplies.
- Iceland 6.9 index score (same as 2021)
- Denmark 6.6 index score (same as 2021)
- Netherlands 6.4 index score (7 places up from 2021)
- United Kingdom 6.3 index score (13 places up from 2021)
- Norway 6.2 index score (2 places down from 2021)
- Finland 6.2 index score (same as 2021)
- France 6.1 index score (3 places down from 2021)
- Germany 6.1 index score (3 places up from 2021)
- Sweden 6.1 index score (3 places up from 2021)
- South Korea 6 index score (new top 2020 up from 2021)
- Belgium 6 index score (2 places down from 2021)
- Ireland 5.9 index score (7 places down from 2021)
- Spain 5.8 index score (5 places up from 2021)
- Switzerland 5.6 index score (5 places up from 2021)
- Canada 5.6 index score (1 place down from 2021)
- Poland 5.6 index score (new top 2020 up from 2021)
- Italy 5.5 index score (new top 2020 up from 2021)
- Portugal 5.5 index score (new top 2020 up from 2021)
- Japan 5.5 index score (new top 2020 up from 2021)
- Costa Rica 5.4 index score (23 places down from 2021)
The Green Future Index for 2022 can be visited here: https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/03/24/1048253/the-green-future-index-2022/
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