The countries of northern and central Europe are best placed to respond to the challenge of carbon neutrality up to 2050. On the other hand, China and the USA, followed by India, lead the list of countries that emit the most CO2.
What if we tell you that the ideal country to live is Denmark? Don't think that this is just for having been voted as the second happiest country in the world by the UN and for putting the word "hygge" on everyone's lips - a concept that is said to explain the secret of its happiness and that lies between well-being and a comfortable and free situation. Denmark is also a great country to live in as it ranks first on the Environmental Performance Index.
This index, developed and presented by the North American universities of Yale and Columbia, results from an environmental diagnosis made to 180 countries, through 11 categories and 32 indicators. It assesses not only greenhouse gas emissions, but a wide variety of indicators ranging from waste treatment to biodiversity.
European hegemony
José Campos Costa, responsible for the Positive Energy Communities department at EDP New, says that: “Our country appears in 27th place, largely due to fishing, agriculture and ecosystem services. An average score compared to its European counterparts, which make it clear that there is still a lot to do in Portugal on the path to carbon neutrality (link to the article Decarbonization in Portugal).
Continuing with the ranking of least polluting countries, we find Luxembourg and Switzerland in 2nd and 3rd places, respectively. It is curious that all the top places up to the 11th position are occupied by European countries, such as the United Kingdom, France, Austria, Finland and Sweden. In 12th place comes Japan, one of the few countries on the Asian continent with a good environmental reputation. China can only be found in the 120th place. “As everyone knows, this country is very affected by air pollution resulting from heavy industry and transport. Despite that, the electric vehicle market is growing a lot, and it will be decisive for it to achieve the carbon neutrality to which it has committed”, explains José Campos Costa.
Can we speak of smart countries?
Although we have this index, which indicates the countries that are more or less smart, we cannot really say that any country is really close to achieving decarbonization. Here, we have to look at the particular and not the general. Yes, one can talk about smart cities and communities (link to the article about smart cities), of which the Portuguese POCITYF is one of the national standard bearers, with the implementation of EDP NEW. It is part of the H2020 projects, a community fund that financed 18 initiatives from 2015 to 2020, in which the Netherlands and Finland also stand out, with six and four positive energy beacon cities, respectively.
According to José Campos Costa, these projects can lead to very interesting results, but from the point of view of the total decarbonization of a country, they are still not very relevant. We should not forget the important role of centralization and the subsidiary action of governments or organizations, so that we can respond to the challenges that appear at the local level, especially in terms of technology. "The most important impact of these smart cities is all the innovation that is brought to these regions, such as the increase in renewable energies, the adoption of electric vehicles, the reduction of electrical consumption through energy efficiency, and the increase in the battery capacity of these beacon cities. These will be the demonstration zones, which will make innovation spread afterwards and, then, yes, we can already start talking about a more global decarbonization process”.
Which countries pollute the most?
Decarbonization processes are not easy and many countries still have a long way to go. According to data from the Global Carbon Atlas - a scientific platform that provides an overview of carbon dioxide emissions around the world - it is not difficult to find the top 3 countries that emit the most CO2 into the atmosphere. China, due to its size and population, leads the ranking of the most polluting countries, with 10.175 Mt CO2 (metric tons of carbon dioxide, the standard measure to quantify CO2 emissions), followed by the United States, with 5,285 Mt CO2 - it leads in per capita emissions -, and by India, with 2,616 Mt CO2.
It won't be a big surprise to see these countries on the lead. After all, they are still heavily dependent on fossil fuels for one reason or another. China does it to keep energy prices affordable and competitive; the United States does it to escape dependence on other international markets and due to the energy policy followed by Donald Trump until 2020 (with Joe Biden, environmental commitments returned to the political agenda); and India does it as an emerging country, in order to expand access to energy.
China - which has already made a commitment to achieve carbon neutrality in 2060 - and the United States are now expected to follow the example of Europe in general, which has demonstrated an iron will to fulfill its part of the Paris Agreement. “Since China is such a big and important player in Asia, it is likely that if it starts to set an example regarding decarbonization, it will probably make its Asian counterparts, such as Japan and South Korea, do the same. In addition, it can get an important role in a more competitive renewables market, with better prices for solar technology and storage”, concludes José Campos Costa.
What is the environmental diagnosis for Portugal?
Portugal is classified as “Sufficient” in this assessment, which carries out an environmental diagnosis of 180 countries. José Campos Costa, responsible for the Positive Energy Communities department at EDP New, says that “there is still a lot to do in Portugal, but we must also not forget that in terms of the integration of renewable energies (link to article on renewables) we are doing a good and continuous job. At the level of offshore wind power, we are even pioneers with the WindFloat project, by EDP”. In short: in terms of energy, Portugal has one of the most ambitious programs in the world aiming at carbon neutrality; but there is still a lot to do regarding the environment.
José Campos Costa highlights that Portugal has a bad score in terms of mobility, which should represent around 25% of greenhouse gas emissions, and in the buildings sector. “Mobility has to be electrified, we should have more shared and intermodal mobility. Then, the buildings, responsible for 35% of CO2 emissions, are even worse in the classification of energy efficiency”, explains José Campos Costa. He recalls that “two thirds of our housing stock was built in the 1990 decade, precisely the decade in which the most ambitious requirements regarding their energy performance began to be introduced”.
In any case, Portugal in general, and EDP in particular, have taken an exemplary path. “EDP has already committed to shutting down all its coal-fired power stations, which are those that generate the most emissions per unit of energy produced. We have already done it in Sines, where the group's largest coal plant was located, we are doing it in Spain, and we are going to do it in Brazil, up to 2025. Therefore, only a few natural gas plants will remain in Portugal and Spain, which will operate as a backup. In 2030, all of EDP's production will be from renewable sources and this year we will achieve carbon neutrality – this is the public commitment assumed by EDP”, says Pedro Paes.
In line with the European Union's strategy and with a very ambitious target for the reduction of greenhouse gases (link to the article about carbon neutrality), Portugal “has been an example for the most polluting countries”, states Pedro Paes.
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