Belgium has dropped two places in the annual Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) published alongside the COP30 climate conference in Belém, Brazil.
The 2026 CCPI ranks 63 countries and the European Union based on 90% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The Index was created by the German environmental NGOs Germanwatch, NewClimate Institute, and CAN International, using input from 450 climate and energy experts.
The ranking assesses performance across four categories: greenhouse gas emissions (40% weight), renewable energy use (20%), energy efficiency (20%), and climate policy (20%), using data from 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Belgium is ranked 37th this year, down from 35th, and is labelled “low” overall, meaning its efforts are out of line with the Paris Agreement’s goal to limit global warming to well below 2°C, ideally 1.5°C.
Belgium’s greenhouse gas reduction efforts are rated “medium,” while renewable energy use, energy efficiency, and climate policy all receive “low” scores.
Experts noted that Belgium’s national energy-climate plan would only achieve a 43% reduction in emissions by 2030, short of the European target of 47%. Long-term strategies were deemed insufficient, with a lack of ambition and implementation gaps.
As in previous years, the top three spots in the ranking remain vacant, as no country’s climate policies are considered ambitious enough to meet the 1.5°C global warming target.
Denmark retains the fourth place for a fifth consecutive year, followed by the UK and Morocco. The EU, as a whole, has dropped three places to rank 20th.
Brazil, hosting COP30 in Belém, has climbed to 27th place. Meanwhile, India has fallen to 23rd (-13), and China, the world’s largest emitter, has risen slightly to 54th, though its performance remains labelled “very low” due to ongoing reliance on coal.
The United States now ranks 65th (-8), with only Iran and Saudi Arabia performing worse. The US plans to exit the Paris Agreement again in early 2026 and has not sent an official delegation to COP30.
