Carbon dioxide emissions of these nations went up by 56% between 1990 and 2013.

Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of G20 countries are continuing to increase, a report from Climate Transparency, an open global consortium, has shown ahead of the 2016 G20 Hangzhou summit to be held on September 4-5 in China. Between 1990 and 2013, the absolute carbon dioxide emissions of G20 countries, which account for three-fourths of global CO 2 emissions, went up by 56 per cent, the report shows.

Funded by Climate Works Foundation, Stiftung Mercator and the World Bank Group, Climate Transparency analysed key indicators, including carbon intensity and share of coal in total electricity produced, to assess the performance of these countries and found that half of G20 countries are “inadequate” as regards actions taken to curb climate change. This is despite energy intensity and the carbon intensity of the G20 economies decreasing as overall economic activity increased, notes the report released on Thursday.

India received a ‘medium’ rating with good scores for emissions, share of renewables in total primary energy supply (TPES) and climate policy, but poor scores in carbon intensity, share of coal in TPES and electricity emissions. The worst overall performers were Australia, Argentina, Japan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.

The carbon intensity of the energy sector was found increasing, due to the strong and continuing role that coal plays.

“Most of the G20 countries rely heavily on coal in their primary energy supply,” the report notes, pointing out that since these countries are planning a large number of new coal-fired power plants, which if realised, would almost double coal capacity, making it virtually impossible to keep the temperature increase to below 2°C, let alone 1.5˚C as mandated by the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

Of all the G20 member-states, Australia, Canada, Saudi Arabia and the United States stand out with by far the highest per capita energy-related CO 2 emissions. Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Japan still show an increase over the five-year period 2008-2013. Argentina and South Africa have declining per capita emissions, as with the EU and its big member-states Germany, France, Italy and the U.K., the report notes. China’s per capita emissions were found to be above the G20 average: at 38%, with China having the highest economic growth rate between 2008 and 2013.

The coal share of China, India, South Africa and Turkey will remain clearly above the maximum 2˚C benchmark in the time period until 2030, the report notes.

Investment gap



To be in line with a 2°C-compatible trajectory by 2035, G20 countries face an investment gap of almost $ 340 billion/year in the power sector. Though plugging the gap requires an increase in green investments, G20 governments provided, on average, almost $ 70 billion in subsidies for fossil fuel production between 2013 and 2014, the report points out. This was despite G20 leaders pledging to phase out ‘inefficient’ fossil fuel subsidies in 2009. The report also points out that reducing fossil fuel subsidies could theoretically create fiscal space for more international climate finance.

Climate Transparency was co-founded under the leadership of Peter Eigen, Founder of Transparency International and Alvaro Umaña, former Minister of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica in 2014.