2011 Global Green Economy Index
By Dr Arvind Kumar
Expert practitioners in the green economy have ranked Germany as the top overall national green performer while a new index consisting of 37 datasets scoring country performance places New Zealand on top. These results are incorporated in the 2011 Global Green Economy Index (GGEI) prepared by Dual Citizen Inc., a Washington-based consultancy, which publishes the annual report ranking 27 nations according to their green leadership, domestic policy frameworks, cleantech investment climate and commitment to green tourism. According to Jeremy Tamanini, the founder of Dual Citizen Inc.: “Green reputations are a vital component of overall country brands and the Global Green Economy Index provides government and private stakeholders in the green economy a unique tool to track, analyze and improve upon performance in this sector.”
The aggregate GGEI results show that the United States and China – the two largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters – are making perceived gains in this sector largely due to the size and economic opportunity of their cleantech markets. However, their overall performance continues to lag behind that of their European counterparts, particularly Germany, Denmark and Sweden. The leadership index dimension recognizes hosts of the annual Conference of Parties (COP) event as top performers yet experts credit national leadership based more on proven commitments to sustainability through the structure and funding of national ministries and institutions. Experts generally believe that large economies have the right domestic policies in place to promote renewable energy yet these same nations often fail to register consistent improvements in lowering their GHG emissions and implementing best practice clean energy policies. Experts view the world’s largest economies and their BIC counterparts as the best targets for cleantech investment but smaller nations with relatively mature cleantech sectors exhibit more robust investment climates according to GGEI data.
