On November 19, environmental NGO Germanwatch released the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2025, a report assessing the climate change policies of countries around the world. Since 2005, Germanwatch has published the CCPI annually around the time of the COP climate conference, evaluating each country’s GHG emissions, energy use, expansion of renewable energy, and various climate policies. This year’s CCPI includes 63 countries and the EU, whose combined GHG emissions account for 90% of the world’s total.
With many deficiencies in its climate policies noted, Japan ranked 58th overall.
In the CCPI 2025, no country performed well enough in all assessment categories to achieve an overall “very high” rating in the index, and so the first three ranks in the overall ranking were left empty. Denmark achieved the best ranking (4th place), followed by the Netherlands and the United Kingdom in 5th and 6th place, respectively. Of the 64 countries/regions covered in this year’s report, 61 have increased the share of renewable energy in their energy mix over the past five years, but still 29 were rated low or very low in their GHG emissions assessment.
Japan ranked 58th, the same as last year, and received an overall “very low” rating. Among the G20, only the UK (6th) and India (10th) received a “high” rating. China and the United States are ranked above Japan in 55th and 57th place, respectively. China is the world’s largest emitter and remains heavily dependent on coal, but the report notes that renewable energy is expanding at an impressive rate. As for the United States, the world’s second largest emitter, there are concerns that the outcome of the presidential election could affect the country’s climate change policy in the coming years.
The CCPI assesses each country’s performance in four categories: GHG Emissions (40% of the overall ranking), Renewable Energy (20%), Energy Use (20%) and Climate Policy (20%), and evaluates the extent to which each country is taking appropriate action to achieve the Paris Agreement climate goals. Looking closer at Japan’s rating by category, Japan received a “low” rating in the categories of GHG Emissions and Energy Use, and a “very low” rating in both Renewable Energy and Climate Policy. Japan was ranked particularly low in Climate Policy at 66th place, second-to-last followed only by Iran.
The report points out that although the Japanese government has committed to achieving net zero by 2050, no clear roadmap for this goal has been presented. Additionally, despite the G7 agreeing to phase out coal-fired power by 2035, Japan has yet to announce a concrete plan to do this, remaining the only G7 country yet to do so. The experts who conducted the assessment stated that Japan phasing out coal-fired power by 2030 is essential to achieving the 1.5°C target.
Other issues with Japan noted in the report include the co-firing of largely imported biomass with coal, and the seeking of loopholes to continue using coal-fired power generation and fossil fuels by utilizing bad faith interpretations of international agreements it has committed to.
Additional recommendations for Japan include a call for accelerated introduction of offshore wind and solar power generation, and strengthening of the power grid in order to expand renewable energy.
Countries throughout the world are currently preparing to submit their next climate targets (National Determined Contributions; NDCs) by the February 2025 deadline. At the COP28 climate conference in 2023, countries agreed to transition away from fossil fuels, as well as to triple global renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency by 2030. However, the report notes that many countries’ current NDCs fall short of these goals, and emphasizes that the upcoming NDCs should reflect the COP28 agreement by including specific policies to expand renewable energy, improve energy efficiency, and facilitate a fossil fuel phase-out.
Links
Release from German Watch：The Climate Change Performance Index 2025: Results (Link)
Press Release from NewClimate Institute: Climate Change Performance Index 2025 (Link)
CCPI 2025: Ranking and Results (Link)
CCPI Report download from here
Livestream: CCPI Press Conference 2025, Video
About Japan (Link)
Written / published by: Germanwatch
Published: 20 November 2024