Rank and Vile

U.S. ranks low on climate-change list topped by European countries

Two groups have ranked the climate-change successes of the 56 countries responsible for 90 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, and concluded that they all suck. "We don't have any winners, we only have countries that are better compared to others," says Matthias Duwe of the Climate Action Network. "We don't have big shining stars." Among the least shiny was the United States, which ranked fourth from the bottom, just above China, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia. China's third-to-suckiest rating was a prodigious drop; on last year's list, it ranked 29th. The top three spots this year went to Sweden (which uses renewables for about one-quarter of its energy consumption), Britain, and Denmark. CAN's co-ranker, Germanwatch -- which apparently watches more than just Germans -- made the calculations based on emissions levels in the past year, emissions trends over the past five years, and climate policy. Causing the U.S. to scratch its head and ask, "Climate policy? What's that?"