The Five Worst Climate Villains Among World Leaders.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Canadian Premier Stephen have just landed near the bottom of a ranking of the world’s worst climate villains. The 2014 Climate Change Performance Index, published by Germanwatch and the Climate Action Network, called out Abbott and Harper for aggressively dismantling and blocking clean energy policies in their countries. They came in at 57th and 58th in a list of 61 names, and have some illustrious company at the bottom. Let’s take a look at the worst five.
1. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
Dead last on the Climate Action Network’s list and holder of the worst record among the G20. A desert country that was long the world’s foremost oil producer, Saudi Arabia seems both naturally and intentionally destined to be a man-made climate change skeptic. Although the U.S. is poised to overtake it in terms of oil production, Saudi Arabia reached a production of 10.24 million barrels per day in August 2013, its highest level in a number of years.
Furthermore, although the country supports much of the global thirst for oil, the ruling Saud family, especially King Abdullah, has crafted an energy policy that leaves the country relying extensively on hydrocarbons for its own consumption. Last August, it was reported that a shortage of natural gas had left Saudi Arabia dependent on oil for its electricity production. This was after King Abdullah’s envoys tried to get climate change dropped from the United Nations’ 2015 Sustainable Development Goals, with Andrew Scott from the Overseas Development Institute saying that “the international recognition that sustainable development cannot be achieved without renewable energy is not in the interest of Saudi Arabia, Venezuela or any other oil exporting countries.” It is this failure to move his country on from its oil-rich present that makes King Abdullah the worst climate villain among world leaders.
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