Climate policy “not progressing fast enough” warns new report

The fourth annual G20 Zero-Carbon Policy Scoreboard report published by BloombergNEF reveals that current climate policies are not scaling up fast enough to meet international targets.

According to the study, which evaluates each G20 nation’s progress on decarbonisation efforts over the past year, the world’s largest economies have shown only limited progress overall. The average score across the G20 was just 49% – a rise of only 1 percentage point from last year.

The UK’s decarbonisation score declined slightly, dropping 2 percentage points to 63%, ranking it fifth overall, lagging behind France (71%), Germany (71%), EU (68%) and Italy (64%) [see table below]. 

The report cites UK policy setbacks such as pushing back the deadline for phasing out new internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle sales to 2035, and delays in implementing stricter regulations on energy performance certificates and boiler bans. However, the UK has improved its performance in areas like clean power, with its score increasing 5% thanks to schemes like the Emissions Trading System and investments in clean hydrogen.

Germany saw its score drop after scrapping subsidies for electric vehicles, and slowed progress on the ground such as renewables build. France lost points over delays to its coal phase-out. And uncertainty around future policies weighed on scores for even the highest ranked nations like the UK and EU members.

Meanwhile, large emerging economies are still far behind. The average policy score for ‘BRICS’ nations Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa was just 42%. And OECD countries scored 20 percentage points higher on average than non-OECD G20 members.

But with countries like France, Germany and Italy maintaining top spots, there are warnings that developed nations like the UK need to show stronger leadership to encourage emerging economies to follow suit, as collectively the G20 contributes around 18% of global emissions.

Read G20 Zero-Carbon Policy Scoreboard report published by BloombergNEF