Welcome to the Earth.Org Global Sustainability Index, where Earth.Org examines the policies and actions regarding the environment of every nation on earth. Combining the most respected global indexes on pollution, climate change, policy, energy, oceans, biodiversity we have produced an overall Global Index, which will be updated annually. This is the Global Sustainability Index for Trinidad and Tobago.
A small island developing state (ISDSS), Trinidad and Tobago is the most industrialized economy in the english-speaking Caribbean. It accounts for less than 1% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions despite 40% of its GDP and 80% of its exports coming from oil and gas. Its government has recognized its responsibilities as a fossil fuel-based economy, committing to the global climate change mitigation effort through the National Climate Change Policy (NCCP). They also developed a Carbon Reduction Strategy (CRS) for their power, transportation and industrial sectors as part of their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) to the Paris Agreement.
Like most SIDS, Trinidad and Tobago is particularly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change, like higher temperatures, modified and more intense rain patterns and sea level rise. This is why they’ve committed to using low-emission fuels and develop renewable energy infrastructure despite having low overall emissions.
- While its overall emissions are low, emissions per capita are quite high, standing at 28MtCO2/eq
- The main fuel utilized for power generation in Trinidad and Tobago is compressed natural gas, the least intensive of all fossil fuels.
- Its industries are committed to clean production technology in order to minimize waste production and management costs.
- Conservation of natural carbon sinks and coastal ecosystems is a priority.
* Our Climate Change Ranking considers this country’s efforts toward climate change insufficient and thus has not ranked it.
** Our Energy ranking considers emission intensity (units of energy per unit of GDP). When one or both are low enough to make their influence negligible on a global scale, the country is left out of the ranking.
Global Sustainability Main Page.
References:
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Biodiversity, Policy: Sachs, J., Schmidt-Traub, G., Kroll, C., Lafortune, G., Fuller, G. (2019): Sustainable Development Report 2019. New York: Bertelsmann Stiftung and Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).
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Oceans: Halpern, Benjamin S., et al. “An index to assess the health and benefits of the global ocean.” Nature 488.7413 (2012): 615-620.
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Pollution: Wendling, Z. A., Emerson, J. W., Esty, D. C., Levy, M. A., de Sherbinin, A., et al. (2018). 2018 Environmental Performance Index. New Haven, CT: Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy. https://epi.yale.edu/
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Climate Change: Climate Change Performance Index; Jan Burck, Ursula Hagen, Niklas Höhne, Leonardo Nascimento, Christoph Bals, ISBN 978-3-943704-75-4, 2019
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Energy: Enerdata –World Energy Statistics – Yearbook.
World Energy Statistics
