India has slipped five places to 28th in the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2027, its third consecutive fall in the annual ranking, according to the report released on Wednesday, November 11, on the sidelines of the COP31 climate conference in Antalya, Turkiye. India was 23rd last year and 10th the year before, after spending six straight years in the top 10 until 2024 and peaking at seventh.

Source: IANS, via hi INDiA

The CCPI, compiled by Germanwatch and the NewClimate Institute, tracks the climate-mitigation performance of 64 countries and the European Union, which together account for over 90 per cent of global greenhouse-gas emissions. Countries are scored on 14 indicators across four categories: greenhouse-gas emissions (40 per cent weight), renewable energy (20 per cent), energy use (20 per cent) and climate policy (20 per cent).

India kept an overall 'medium' rating, with medium ratings for greenhouse-gas emissions, energy use and climate policy, and a high rating for its renewable-energy trend. Lead author Jan Burck and co-author Madlen Peter told the Times of India that India lost the most ground in the energy use and emissions categories: per-capita emissions and energy use remain comparatively low, but both have risen in recent years and the index rates those trends very low. They praised the rapid expansion of solar and wind power, while noting renewables still form a relatively small share of total energy supply, and suggested better energy efficiency, investment in grids and storage, and a clear timetable for phasing down coal.

Source: The Times of India, via DailyGraph

Renewables praised, grids and storage flagged

The report credited competitive procurement, rooftop-solar support and domestic manufacturing incentives for India's renewable growth, and noted that non-fossil sources reached 50 per cent of cumulative installed electricity capacity in June 2025, five years ahead of the earlier 2030 target — a capacity figure that includes nuclear power and differs from the share of electricity actually generated. Experts quoted in the report flagged a mismatch between renewable deployment and transmission, distribution and storage: energy think tank Ember estimates India curtailed 2.3 terawatt-hours of solar generation between late May and December 2025 to maintain grid security. The Carbon Credit Trading Scheme has assigned emissions-intensity targets to 490 industrial entities since January 2026.

Globally, the top three positions remain vacant because no country performs well enough across all categories for a 'very high' rating. Denmark again leads at fourth, followed by Lithuania (fifth) and Luxembourg (sixth). Pakistan placed 26th, which the report attributes to lower emissions from a smaller economy, China ranked 56th, and Russia, the United States and Iran occupied the bottom three positions, Mirror Now reported. The report concludes that none of the assessed emitters is currently on a trajectory compatible with the Paris Agreement goals.

Source: Mirror Now

India's updated climate pledge (NDC) for 2031-2035 targets a 47 per cent cut in the emissions intensity of GDP from 2005 levels by 2035, about 60 per cent of installed electricity capacity from non-fossil sources, and a forest and tree-cover carbon sink of 3.5 to 4 billion tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalent. Experts cited in the report were divided on whether those targets should be stronger, given the recent pace of renewable expansion.