Portugal is among the 10 industrialised countries that are working the hardest to implement environmentally-friendly policies and combat global warming, according to the 2017 Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI).
The country is placed 11th on the list, though it is technically placed eighth as the index does not attribute the first three spots as no nations are considered worthy of the podium.
Compared to last year, Portugal has climbed seven positions on a list headed by France, Sweden and the UK.
This is due mostly to the country’s “relatively low emissions” and “improving energy efficiency”, Francisco Ferreira from environmental association Zero told Renascença radio.
He added that Portugal was also one of the first countries to ratify the Paris Agreement, and that the country has played an important role in the “expansion of renewable energy” though the sector has suffered from a “lack of investment and growth in recent years”.
The CCPI is put together every year by German non-governmental environmental association GermanWatch and Climate Action Network Europe. It is designed to “enhance transparency in international climate politics” and “put political and social pressure on countries which have, up until now, failed to take ambitious action on climate protection”.
