The Green Future Index is a ranking of 76 countries and territories on their progress and commitment to building a low-carbon future. It measures the extent to which their economies are moving towards clean energy, industry, agriculture and society through innovation, policy and investment in renewable energy.
Research for the 2022 Green Futures Index ends in January 2022, before Russia invaded Ukraine. That conflict could have far-reaching and continuing effects on the sustainable development efforts of countries around the world. While MIT Technology Review Insights has strived to relay as accurate information as possible, we can expect the economic, social, and political environment to continue to change.
The Green Futures Index 2022 is the second annual comparative ranking of 76 countries and territories (accounting for about 95% of global GDP) on the likelihood of developing a sustainable, low-carbon future for their economies. and their society. Since its inception, the index has been developed through intensive research at the primary and secondary levels. Secondary research includes the review of hundreds of articles, research reports and articles in the scientific literature, and news and legal analysis journals. The main research was conducted through more than 20 in-depth interviews with global experts on climate change, green energy and decarbonization technologies.
This research enabled us to evaluate and select 22 different country-level datasets to form the indicators of the index. The data comes from a variety of publicly available sources, including the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Renewable Energy Agency, the World Bank, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations. World Intelligence, and Climate Action Monitor (CAT).
Where necessary to fill in the gaps, we have expanded and refined the existing datasets by conducting additional detailed research on selected countries and consulting with stakeholders. global experts. This has already been done in the initiative indicators on climate policy and carbon finance, and in the indicators newly added to this year’s index, specifically in determining the “level of readiness” to capture and sequester carbon and in developing estimates of electric vehicle penetration (see “different in the Green Future Index 2022?”).
Indicator datasets are converted to ratings in one of two ways. For quantitative indicators, such as growth rates or values, each data point for each country is increased or decreased using min-max normalization to develop a series of points over all all countries for that index. For data that is largely qualitative or non-standard, a rating system has been developed and a score is assigned to each country. After all 22 indicators are scored, they are sorted into five separate pillars. The structure of this second edition of the Green Futures Index remains largely the same as the 2021 edition, with a number of indicators added to enhance the sustainability coverage (see “Differences in the Index”). Green Future issue in 2022?”)
Pillar 1: Carbon emissions – This pillar measures how effectively countries are limiting carbon dioxide emissions overall, as well as across key sectors. The indicators in this pillar are:
- Total carbon dioxide emissions in 2019, in million tons, compared to GDP
- Average annual change in carbon dioxide emissions from 2014 to 2019, both overall and for individual industries, transportation and agriculture
Pillar 2: Energy Transformation– This pillar measures the contribution and growth rate of renewable energy sources, and now includes nuclear power. The indicators in this pillar are:
- Growth of renewable energy production in gigawatt-hours from 2014 to 2019
- Share of energy from renewable sources generated in final energy consumption in 2018
- Growth of nuclear energy production in gigawatt-hours from 2014 to 2019
- Percentage of energy from nuclear production generated in final energy consumption in 2018
Pillar 3: Green society This pillar measures the efforts of government, industry and society to promote green practices. Measurement metrics:
- Number of LEED-certified green buildings in 2020, per million urban residents
- Ratio of recycled solid waste to total managed waste
- Actual change in afforestation from 2015 to 2020: a combined indicator of forestland change through naturally regenerative primary growth and changes through afforestation projects according to the plan
- Number of passenger electric vehicles per million urban residents in 2020
Pillar 4: Clean innovation This pillar measures the innovation environment for building a low carbon future, such as relative penetration of green patents, cross-border clean energy investments and real technology investments. Products. Measurement metrics:
- Growth in green intellectual property, as measured by the increase in patents registered for sustainable technologies or processes and solutions between 2013 and 2018, compared to GDP
- Amount of investment received by a country and provided for clean energy efforts between 2014 and 2018, as a percentage of GDP
- Number of food technology startups (“foodtech”) per million urban residents
Pillar 5: Climate policy This pillar measures the ambition and effectiveness of climate policy, including carbon financing initiatives, sustainable agricultural policy, and the use of pandemic recovery spending to achieve economic recovery. blue. Indicators include:
- Qualitative assessment of policy action to achieve stated climate goals, in compliance with the Paris Agreement and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)
- Qualitative assessment of policy and regulatory frameworks to advance carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) efforts
- Qualitative assessment of the measures taken by each country to create financial incentives for companies and investors to fix the cost of carbon emissions, through taxing carbon and creating markets for carbon bonds and emissions trading system
- Qualitative assessment of sustainable agricultural policies, assessing the comprehensiveness and effectiveness of their implementation
- Assess the extent to which the covid-19 recovery stimulus packages will accelerate decarbonisation, leading to a “pandemic pivot” along with two measures:
- Impact of the energy transition — scores countries by ratio of stimulus spending targeting new energy initiatives to fossil fuel projects
- Green stimulus initiatives — Score countries as a percentage of total stimulus spending allocated to key low-carbon, sustainable public infrastructure projects (e.g., such as transport, water, public space and information)
These pillars are designed to comprehensively assess each country’s green future in terms of two dimensions: the progress they have made in achieving their carbon reduction targets and social performance. climate-friendly and the ambitions that the country must achieve to maintain a carbon-neutral economy. The first four “pillars of progress” account for 60% of the index’s weight. The fifth pillar – climate policy – measures the extent to which investment and policy activities are incorporated into green infrastructure initiatives and regulatory frameworks. We believe that these factors collectively form the main driver for establishing and maintaining a country’s green future, and therefore this pillar accounts for 40% of the Index’s weight.
MIT Technology Review was founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1899. We are a leading voice on climate change issues with a dedicated topic area on our website about the gas emergency. global climate, including innovations that can accelerate decarbonisation, and national climate policy initiatives.
MIT Technology Review Insights is the custom publishing division of MIT Technology Review. We conduct qualitative and quantitative research and analysis worldwide and publish a wide range of content, including articles, reports, infographics, videos, and podcasts.
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