Description

Greenhouse Gas Management Activities Parameter IV takes into account carbon offset project activity, level of policy support for carbon emissions reduction, and local corporate awareness of carbon issues through a total of 13 indicator inputs. Parameter IV contributed 15% toward each nation’s overall score.

Relevant indicators are arranged into three categories: Carbon Offsets, Carbon Policy and Corporate Awareness. The Carbon Offset category measures what countries have done to develop offset projects and measures their potential to continue into the future. It holds the greatest weight toward the overall Parameter IV score at 40%. The other two categories account for 30% apiece. Across all 55 Climatescope nations, the average Parameter IV score ticked up to 1.36 from 1.34 the year prior. Once again, this suggests room for considerable improvement in future years and hopefully these scores will rise in the wake of the UN-sponsored climate negotiations scheduled for December 2015.

The appearance of China, the world’s largest CO2 emitter, atop this table may surprise some. However, it is worth noting that Climatescope methodology does not measure countries’ emissions or reduce their scores when these are high. Rather, it seeks to take into account efforts launched explicitly to reduce future emissions.

It is largely for this reason that China fares well and scored highly in the prior edition of Climatescope (3rd last year). The country has been credited for establishing province-level cap-and-trade programs and registries for counting emissions. In November 2014, China declared for the first time its plan to curb overall CO2 emissions growth by the end of the next decade.