Berlin, 1st July 2009 - G8 countries have so far failed to take sufficient action to protect the world against climate change. The latest G8 Climate Scorecards report shows that Germany, followed by the UK and France, is performing better than the rest of the rich nations' group. Italy and Japan are in a lower medium ranked group. Canada, the USA and Russia are lagging behind, despite the USA moving up one rank.
The report carried out by Ecofys for WWF and Allianz SE ranks the top eight industrialized coun-tries according to their climate change policies and provides an assessment of five major develop-ing countries, including South Africa.
Only five months ahead of crucial climate talks in Copenhagen, the 2009 edition of the annual WWF-Allianz G8 climate scorecards shows that while some efforts had been made, action re-mains insufficient to set the world on a low carbon economy course.
The report states the lack of a clear leader among the ranked nations and while Germany has slightly improved, countries such as Canada and Russia have completely failed to pass the test.
In the foreword of the report, James Leape, the head of WWF and Allianz board member Joachim Faber urged the nations to take action now and help seal a good deal in Copenhagen.
"While there might be a bailout possibility for the financial system, no amounts of money will save the planet once climate change crosses the danger threshold," Mr. Leape and Mr. Faber wrote. "It is therefore crucial to limit the rise of global temperature to below two degrees compared to pre-industrial levels."
The G8 Climate Scorecards 2009 measure countries' performance and trends in areas such as development of greenhouse gas emissions since 1990, the distance to their Kyoto-targets, their share of renewable energies and the efficiency of their climate policies.
The evaluation is based on their progress and improvement made since 1990, looking at the cur-rent status of emissions and the intended policies for the future.
According to the report, Germany, the United Kingdom and France have already achieved their Kyoto targets - but their long-term climate performance is not adequate to limit the global tempera-ture rise below two degrees Celsius.
Climate initiatives so far planned or announced by the Obama-administration have helped the USA climb from the last rank to seventh place.
Canada and Russia which are at the bottom of the rank either do not have political plans to change this development or do not implement them.
The reports recognises the positive example set by South Africa in international negotiations, as well as the vision and strategic framework adopted by government in response to the Long Term Mitigation Scenarios.
Within the framework of the global WWF-Allianz partnership, Allianz in its position as an interna-tional finance service provider supports the G8 Climate Scorecards to better understand the con-sequences of climate change. That is vital for the investment and regulatory framework conditions that have to be adapted to the consequences of climate change as well as for the development of new climate compliant products and financial solutions.
Joachim Faber, board member of Allianz SE says: "A low carbon future holds growth potential for G8 countries as well as for emerging nations. Future investments and product development there-fore require a sustainable political framework."
Richard Worthington, WWF South Africa's Climate Change Programme Manager concludes: "In light of this report we encourage President Zuma to take a strong stand on climate change by ad-vocating for the levels of domestic action, financial support and technology cooperation that are required to avoid the dire impacts in store for Africa if the international community does not keep global warming well below 2 degrees."
"The window of opportunity to have a reasonable chance of avoiding runaway climate change is so small that we need heads of state to move beyond the positions brought to the UNFCCC nego-tiations by national delegations."
Click here to download the full report
