Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, Friday 7th December 2007, 11.45 a.m. (03.45 hrs GMT)

 Mobile:  + 62 81 338  979 628

 Ireland in lowly 44th place out of 56 countries in climate change performance index

 Ireland comes in  a lowly 44th out of 56 countries assessed in the 2008 edition of the Germanwatch/CAN-Europe Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) published this morning at the UN climate negotiations in Bali, Indonesia.

 Ireland is singled out in the report as being one of only three countries in Europe with a rating of “very poor”

 Ireland was also identified by Germanwatch and Grian at the launch of the index in Bali this morning as one of the “big losers” or countries plummeting in the ranking since last year.

 Only two other EU countries (Cyprus and Luxembourg) performed worse than Ireland.

 Many much poorer countries, such as China, India, Belarus, South Africa, Bulgaria, Morocco, Turkey and Bulgaria, all perform much better and come in far higher up the index than Ireland. Top of the index were well known climate progressives Sweden and Germany.

 Using a comprehensive mix of 80% empirical data and 20% in-country review of national climate policies and measures, the annual and increasingly respected Germanwatch/CAN-Europe CCPI evaluates and compares the climate protection performances of 56 countries responsible for more than 90 percent of global energy-related CO2 emissions.

 The in-country review for Ireland was carried out this year, as previously, by Grian. Commenting on today’s release of the 2008 CCPI, Pat Finnegan of Grian said in Bali this morning:

 "Today’s index really shows the scale of the challenge the government is facing as it takes its first hesitant steps at attempting to turn Irish performance on climate change around.”

 “15 years of delayed action in Ireland will not go away overnight.”

 “In fact, as the IPCC has pointed out for many years, the reverse is true. The effects of delay are cumulative and self-reinforcing over time, creating in-country political inertia not unlike the thermal inertia in the atmosphere that causes global warming.”

 “The challenge for government is to now turn this around, and fast.”

 In this year’s index, Ireland actually received a slightly better rating than last year from Grian for policy, primarily due to the White Paper on Energy produced by the outgoing government, and newer measures on energy performance in buildings and smart metering from the new government.

 While policy necessarily precedes action, it is only in terms of policy delivery---i.e. demonstrable and genuine emissions mitigation---that climate performance can be be said to be truly happening. As Germanwatch and CAN-Europe observed at this morning’s press conference, even the top performers in the index, Sweden and Germany only achieve marks of 65-66%.  As Pat Finnegan explained this morning:

 “Irish climate policy initiatives are still only at the embryonic stage of delivery, compared to what is required for an equitable effort from the world’s fourth richest country. The weight of the new initiatives pales into insignificance in the CCPI against the burden of our current emissions per capita, overall emissions trend, and historic underperformance.”

 “Proof of the integrity of the CCPI comes from looking at the official inventory figures Minister John Gormley will, unfortunately enough for both him and for Ireland, have to attempt to justify in front of developing countries in Bali.”

 “The inventory shows that the current trend in Irish emissions is upward, rising at 2% per annum, (Note 2) when in fact they should really be heading in the opposite direction.”

 “The CCPI correctly and scientifically, allocates the bulk of its marks to emissions trends, since these are what really matter in terms of climate action. Trends, once established, can be hard to turn around, because they are, by nature, systemic. The challenge for Ireland, therefore, is to make decarbonisation part of the system, something we have very much failed to do over the last 15 years.”

 “If developing countries are to receive any sort of a fair deal in Bali, Ireland, as one of the world’s wealthiest countries really has to be prepared to put substantial emissions reductions, of the order of 30% from 1990 emissions by 2020, on the table as our fair share of the Bali package.” (Note 3)

 Today’s release marks the third renewal of the CCPI, as compiled by Grian’s long-standing colleagues Germanwatch (www.germanwatch.org) in the Climate Action Network (www.climnet.org).

 The Germanwatch/ CAN-Europe CCPI, facts, figures, maps and tables can all be downloaded from: www.germanwatch.org

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To contact PAT FINNEGAN in Bali:

Mobile:  + 62 81  338  979 628

Note 1: The Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) is published annually by Germanwatch and CAN-Europe.

 It compares the climate protection performances of 56 industrialised countries and emerging economies, that together account for more than 90 per cent of global CO2 emissions. Oekom research, a renowned rating agency, uses the index as a basis for financial rankings

 The index is published for the third time this year in Bali.  It was updated referring to the latest available data. The CCPI allows for a well-founded country comparison since it not only considers absolute emission figures provided by the International Energy Agency (IEA) but also puts significant weight on emissions trend (30 per cent) and includes an assessment of climate policy (20 per cent). A survey among national climate experts complements the quantitative part of the index and provides a detailed evaluation of the individual countries’ national and international climate policy.

Note 2: See: http://www.grian.ie/index.php option=com_content&task=view&id=270&Itemid=2

Note 3:. The basic challenge for the Bali negotiations is that the current agreement for the Kyoto Protocol only extends until the end of 2012.

 The first round of the Protocol only applied rather minimal emission caps to a very select group of highly developed countries (including Ireland) amounting collectively to a reduction in emissions of 5.2% below (the baseline year of) 1990 emissions.

 As part of the agreement--first negotiated at Kyoto in 1997---Ireland actually managed to obtain an allowed increase in emissions, pleading the case that (in 1997) we were still not fully developed as an economy.

 Since then however, Ireland has become so developed that, according to the UN Human Development Report issued earlier this month Ireland is the now the world’s fourth wealthiest economy.

 The implications for this are that Ireland is now in the very front line of countries that will be expected to offer significant emissions reductions in the Bali negotiations for the second round of the Protocol after 2012