Despite the much vaunted environmental policies of the federal Liberals, Canada has barely moved the needle on its so-called ‘energy transition’ score, according to the World Economic Fund’s (WEF) latest country rankings.In its latest annual report — the 14th since 2015 — Canada didn’t even crack the top 20, behind such luminaries as Portugal, Brazil and China which ranked 17th..Canada ranked 27th of 120 countries, ahead of Hungary but behind Japan. In terms of developed economies, Canada ranked 23rd of 31, ahead of countries like Slovenia, Greece and Malta. It finished sixth in the G7, ahead of Italy.Sweden, Denmark and Finland rounded out the top three. In fact, all of the top 10 were in the European Union.Canada received a score of 62.4 out of 100 despite introducing extensive environmental policies such as a carbon tax, electricity rules and an emissions cap on oil and gas announced at the COP Summit in Dubai the report noted.The WEF also praised Canada — along with the US, which ranked 19th — for extensive green subsidies despite the fact the US has no carbon tax.“The US’s IRA and Canada’s Environment and Climate Change (ECCC) are success stories in delivering green transformation through tax incentives and other financial instruments,” it said..The WEF rankings mark 14 years of country-level energy system benchmarking. In the preamble, it said the report ”provides a data-driven framework to foster understanding of the performance and readiness of global energy systems for the transition.”A county’s final ETI score is a composite of two sub-indices of system performance and transition readiness, weighted at 60% and 40%, respectively. System performance is defined as “equity, security and sustainability.” Transition readiness is split into two groups: core enablers and enabling factors. Core enablers include “regulations and political commitment, and finance and investment.” Enabling factors include “innovation, infrastructure, and education and human capital.”.Canada scored a 65.5 on ‘system performance’ but just 57.8 on ‘transition readiness’ which was lower than Lithuania. The Baltic nation is defined as a ‘developing economy’ which ranked 24th. “While governments have initiated targeted measures, more decisive action is needed,” WEF said.That said, the WEF praised British Columbia’s carbon tax for rising “twice as fast” as the country overall. “Encouraged by this success and the public support for British Columbia’s carbon pricing, the Canadian federal government followed suit in 2018, instituting a requirement for provinces to either adopt a strong climate policy of their own or accept a ‘backstop’ federal carbon tax, known as the fuel charge.”Although the ETI scores were the highest ever, the WEF noted that 83% of the 120 countries tracked had moved backwards. It said the overall pace of the energy transition has slowed in the past year due to economic volatility, geopolitical tensions, and technological shifts.
Despite the much vaunted environmental policies of the federal Liberals, Canada has barely moved the needle on its so-called ‘energy transition’ score, according to the World Economic Fund’s (WEF) latest country rankings.In its latest annual report — the 14th since 2015 — Canada didn’t even crack the top 20, behind such luminaries as Portugal, Brazil and China which ranked 17th..Canada ranked 27th of 120 countries, ahead of Hungary but behind Japan. In terms of developed economies, Canada ranked 23rd of 31, ahead of countries like Slovenia, Greece and Malta. It finished sixth in the G7, ahead of Italy.Sweden, Denmark and Finland rounded out the top three. In fact, all of the top 10 were in the European Union.Canada received a score of 62.4 out of 100 despite introducing extensive environmental policies such as a carbon tax, electricity rules and an emissions cap on oil and gas announced at the COP Summit in Dubai the report noted.The WEF also praised Canada — along with the US, which ranked 19th — for extensive green subsidies despite the fact the US has no carbon tax.“The US’s IRA and Canada’s Environment and Climate Change (ECCC) are success stories in delivering green transformation through tax incentives and other financial instruments,” it said..The WEF rankings mark 14 years of country-level energy system benchmarking. In the preamble, it said the report ”provides a data-driven framework to foster understanding of the performance and readiness of global energy systems for the transition.”A county’s final ETI score is a composite of two sub-indices of system performance and transition readiness, weighted at 60% and 40%, respectively. System performance is defined as “equity, security and sustainability.” Transition readiness is split into two groups: core enablers and enabling factors. Core enablers include “regulations and political commitment, and finance and investment.” Enabling factors include “innovation, infrastructure, and education and human capital.”.Canada scored a 65.5 on ‘system performance’ but just 57.8 on ‘transition readiness’ which was lower than Lithuania. The Baltic nation is defined as a ‘developing economy’ which ranked 24th. “While governments have initiated targeted measures, more decisive action is needed,” WEF said.That said, the WEF praised British Columbia’s carbon tax for rising “twice as fast” as the country overall. “Encouraged by this success and the public support for British Columbia’s carbon pricing, the Canadian federal government followed suit in 2018, instituting a requirement for provinces to either adopt a strong climate policy of their own or accept a ‘backstop’ federal carbon tax, known as the fuel charge.”Although the ETI scores were the highest ever, the WEF noted that 83% of the 120 countries tracked had moved backwards. It said the overall pace of the energy transition has slowed in the past year due to economic volatility, geopolitical tensions, and technological shifts.
