Sweden Cleanest, Saudi Arabia Dirtiest in Ranking

[Ichingcarpenter]

Dec. 10, 2008 -- Sweden does the most of any country for tackling emissions of greenhouse gases, while Saudi Arabia does the least, according to a barometer published on Wednesday by watchdogs at the UN climate talks.

But the annual "Climate Change Performance Index" placed Sweden only fourth on its list, for no prizes were allotted for the top three places.

"Not a single country is to be judged as satisfactory with regard to protecting the climate," the NGOs Germanwatch and Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe said.

No country had shown willingness "to engage themselves more strongly" to avoid dangerous climate change, they explained.

The groups categorized dangerous climate change as an increase in temperature beyond two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels.

Sweden's fourth place was followed by Germany, France, India, Brazil, Britain and Denmark.

The bottom 10 were listed in descending order as Greece, Malaysia, Cyprus, Russia, Australia, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, the United States, Canada and Saudi Arabia.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/12/10/climate-ranking.html