Global Spotlight Report #53: First Climate Progress Measurements

Introduction

Climate Scorecard is embarking on an exercise to develop proxy measures that can reflect the status of country-level emissions. As most of you know, the goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% has been endorsed by the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and by UNFCCC; and yet there is a lack of agreement on how to measure this progress and what indicators to use. In part this is due to the fact that there are few reliable universal measures for emissions or emission proxy indicators. Therefore, starting with Post 49 in April 2022, Climate Scorecard launched an approach to establish climate mitigation performance indicators that are country specific, rather than universal, that come with data that is available ideally on a monthly, quarterly, or semi-annual basis. The hope is that the development of country-specific progress indicators will facilitate cross country analysis.

For Post 53, Country Managers were asked to take the first measurements using the proxy indicators that they developed earlier this year. They were asked to

  1. Name the sources from which the data for their indicators were derived;
  2. Provide a baseline measurement and date for their indicator;
  3. List the most current data point that is available for the indicator;
  4. Write a brief that analyzes any changes in the measurement for their indicator(s);
  5. If the indicator is a direct measurement of emissions, describe the extent of the change in emissions (plus or minus) and the reasons for the change;
  6. If the indicator is a proxy measure for emissions, describe the extent of the change and its likely impact on emissions.

The Table below summarizes the main points of each country’s analysis. It is followed by the complete text for each Country Report, and then by a Spreadsheet where you can view the progress indicators for each country and the data points for these indicators that have been entered this far. We plan on repeating this exercise later in the year.

Country Data Analysis Highlights
Australia
  • Quarterly data on energy use, agriculture, land use, industrial processes and more available from the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory
Brazil
  • Continued large number of forest fires and heat outbreaks
Canada
  • Primary energy production increased slightly from November; coal production increased slightly with coal exports increasing more so; slight increase in electricity production, mainly in hydro between November 2021 to March 2022; transit ridership down from November, March 2022 stats most recent data available.
China
  • Significant improvement in air quality index (AQI) in eight Chinese cities from March to June 2022; slight decrease in coal output from April 2021 to April 2022; a drop of 14.5 in wind energy output while a 25% growth rate in solar PV between April 2021 and April 2022
European Union
  • Increase in amount of air emissions between Q3 and Q 4 of 2021; lack of data for changes in installed wind and solar power
France
  • Data show rise in emissions between 2020 and 2021; Using EU Quarterly Emissions Data (No Data available as for 2022 as of yet); change thought to be due to rise in economic activity after pandemic
Germany
  • Increases in overall energy sector emissions, industrial and transport sector emissions (annual statistics); increases in monthly purchases of hybrid vehicles; decline in gross share of renewable energy within gross electricity consumption; and no change in the prices of CO2 for transport and buildings.
India
  • Coal production up, a spike in fuel energy production and consumption, and the phasing out of diesel and petrol run buses over the last six months
Japan
  • Almost no change in the number of coal-fired power plants; upward trend in share of renewable energy in the overall energy mix, especially solar power; and an increase in the use of nuclear power.
Nigeria
  • 16% increase in fossil fuel use between 2015 and 20920; lack of recent data.
Russia
  • Coal production in Russia in May 2022 is lower by 4.2 million tons than in March 0f 2022; the share of hydrocarbon combustion in the total energy production remains unchanged at 71% and the level of gasification remains the same.
Saudi Arabia
  • CO2 emissions decreased by 7.3% from 2015- 2020 due to improvements in energy efficiency and the adoption of cleaner, renewable sources of energy.
South Africa
  • From 2021 to 2022 there were small increases in installed renewable energy capacity while significant increases in fuel consumption also occurred.
South Korea
  • Between March and May 2022, Slight update in renewable energy use; decline in number of coal-fired power plants; no information on number of FCEVs on the road
Turkey
  • The natural gas grid is gradually expanding and will be covering the whole country within a near future. Natural gas consumption is also very dependent on the weather conditions as well. 2021 winter was much colder than 2020 winter and combined with the expanding grid, the overall consumption surged.
United Kingdom
  • Renewable energy sources are not optimally being used yet; carbon emissions are rising but at a lower rate than in 2019.
United States
  • There was little change in preponderance of fossil fuel usage as compared to renewables between 2020 and first few months of 2021; for the first two months of 2022, energy consumption released 953 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, up 40 million metric tons from the same period in 2021.

Country Reports

Australia: Climate Progress Indicators

Quarterly data on energy use, agriculture, land use, industrial processes, and more available from the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory   In Post 49, three indicators for assessing Australia’s progress towards its climate emissions goals were identified: Greenhouse gas emissions by Australian Corporations (annual), full carbon accounting model (annual) and electricity generation by fossil fuels (annual)….

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Brazil: Climate Progress Indicators

CONTINUED LARGE NUMBER OF FOREST FIRES AND HEAT OUTBREAKSThere are no updates for the proposed indicators of annual indicators of gas emission (last of 2020) and of vehicle licensing (updated until 2021). But data currently is available for the total number of active fires, an important indicator, especially if we consider that about 46% of…

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Canada: Climate Progress Indicators

Primary energy production increased slightly from November; coal production increased slightly with coal exports increasing more so; slight increase in electricity production, mainly in hydro between November 2021 to March 2022; transit ridership down from November, March 2022 stats most recent data available.Our goal is to visit different indicators influencing climate change below and their…

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China: Climate Progress Indicators

Significant improvement in air quality index (AQI) in eight Chinese cities from March to June 2022; slight decrease in coal output from April 2021 to April 2022; a drop of 14.5 in wind energy output while a 25% growth rate in solar PV between April 2021 and April 2022.Aggregated actual emission data from China is…

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EU: Climate Progress Indicators

Increase in amount of air emissions between Q3 and Q4 of 2021; lack of data for changes in installed wind and solar power.   While new data is not yet available for the total amount of installed wind power capacity in the EU or for the EU’s total solar power capacity, new data is available…

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France: Climate Progress Indicators

Data show rise in emissions between 2020 and 2021 Using EU Quarterly Emissions Data (No Data available as for 2022 as of yet); change thought to be due to rise in economic activity after pandemic.By using quarterly greenhouse gas emissions in France in Q3 of 2021 as a baseline, we can analyze changes in emissions…

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Nigeria: Climate Progress Indicators

16% increase in fossil fuel use between 2015 and 2020; lack of recent data.   According to the 2022 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), Nigeria falls in the 168th position out of a total number of 180 countries in terms of environmental sustainability. With its adoption of the Climate Change Act on 18th November 2021, Nigeria…

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Germany: Climate Progress Indicators

Increases in overall energy sector emissions, industrial and transport sector emissions (annual statistics); increases in monthly purchases of hybrid vehicles; decline in gross share of renewable energy within gross electricity consumption; and no change in the prices of CO2 for transport and buildings.Energy Sector: 12.4 % increase from 2020 to 2021 Emissions More coal was…

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India: Climate Progress Indicators

Coal production up, a spike in fuel energy production and consumption, and the phasing out of diesel and petrol run buses over the last six months India, in accordance with its national and sub-regional plans and pledges that it made during COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021, has been undertaking efforts and initiatives, collating data…

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Japan: Climate Progress Indicators

Almost no change in the number of coal-fired power plants; upward trend in share of renewable energy in the overall energy mix, especially solar power; an increase in the use of nuclear power.   Operational coal-fired power plants In Post 49 published on April 12, 2022, the baseline for the number of coal-fired power plants…

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Russia: Climate Progress Indicators

Coal production in Russia in May 2022 is lower by 4.2 million tons than in March 0f 2022; the share of hydrocarbon combustion in the total energy production remains unchanged at 71% and the level of gasification remains the same.   Two other indicators were chosen to analyze climate progress in Russia: Indicator #1 –…

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Saudi Arabia: Climate Progress Indicators

Saudi Arabia steadily raised gasoline prices per liter since 2015 to SAR 0.90, where the price continued to increase and reached SAR 2.33 in 2021. The prices have stayed constant and fixed at this rate since July 2021. The cap on gasoline prices and subsidized energy prices has had a negative effect on CO2 emissions…

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South Africa: Climate Progress Indicators

Small increases in installed renewable energy capacity while significant increases in fuel consumptionThe Climate Progress Report for South Africa was published by Climate Scorecard in April 2022. This article gives an update on the performance indicators.TABLE Measurement Category          Frequency Data Source Baseline Measurement First Measurement Value Date Value Date Amount of CO2 emissions Monthly Eskom…

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South Korea: Climate Progress Indicators

Between March and May 2022, Slight update in renewable energy use; decline in number of coal-fired power plants; no information on number of FCEVs on the road. Climate Progress Indicators for South Korea Indicator 1 – Share of renewable energy overall in energy mix Indicator 2 – Number of coal-fired power plants Indicator 3 –…

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Spain: Climate Progress Indicators

After a decade of meager development in renewables onset by policy miscalculations in 2008, Spain has begun to once again bolster momentum in heeding its Paris Agreement obligations. Indicator Frequency Data Source Baseline Measurement (July 2019) First Measurement (July 2022) Monthly electricity demand nationwide (GWh) Monthly RED Electrica 24,283 GWh 23,552 GWh Total electricity generated…

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United Kingdom: Climate Progress Indicators

Renewable energy sources are not optimally being used yet; carbon emissions are rising but at a lower rate than in 2019Analysis More and more UK climate change data is becoming publicly available online; a lot of the sources however are still dating back to 2020. I’m quite confident this year more up to date data…

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United States: Climate Progress Indicators

Little change in preponderance of fossil fuel usage as compared to renewables between 2020 and first few months of 2021; for the first two months of 2022, energy consumption released 953 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, up 40 million metric tons from the same period in 2021 (a 4.38% increase); emissions from wildfires so…

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