The United States, the world's leading polluter, ranked 53 in the annual study by Germanwatch, a German environmental group, released here on the sidelines of a UN climate change conference.

Saudi Arabia placed dead last, while China fell from 29 on last year's list to 54, according to the survey based on an evaluation of greenhouse gas emissions and climate policy, it said.

The United States has refused to accept mandatory cuts of the emissions blamed for the earth's rising temperatures and has consistantly rated poorly on environmental policy matters, according the group.

Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, was chided for its poor national and international climate policy and energy inefficiency.

Experts suggested that China, the world's number two polluter, tumbled so significantly because of its growing dependence on carbon-intensive electricity generation to fuel its exploding economy.

At the upper end of the scale, seven European countries -- led by Sweden, Britain and Denmark, respectively -- and a trio of developing economies -- Argentina, Brazil, and India -- were deemed among the top ten, it said.

Others in the top ten were Malta, Germany, Hungary and Switzerland, while France ranked 12th, leading the group to call for Europe to take the lead in global efforts to combat climate change.

"It is clear from this study a coalition of European countries and some of the large developing countries and those with leading environmental policy ... should take the helm of a coalition to build our future climate regime on," Germanwatch policy director Christoph Bals said.

At the same time, he lamented that even the efforts of the top scorers were not enough to effectively curb and reverse global warming.

"There is no winner," Bals said. "The leader, Sweden, is only the one-eyed king among the blind."

The study looked at greenhouse gas emissions over the past year, over the past five years and environmental and climate policies.

Only countries that release more than a one-percent share of all greenhouse gas emissions and rapidly developing economies are targeted by the evaluation.

earlier related report
China investors wary of Russian environment rules, crime, red tape
Khabarovsk (RIA Novosti) - Bureaucracy, the 'criminal factor', and environmental regulations are discouraging Chinese investors from investing in Russia's economy, the governor of the Far Eastern Khabarovsk Territory said Monday.

Viktor Ishayev told journalists that far fewer projects were being implemented than planned, with financing falling well below what was hoped; however, the governor hailed new investment agreements and said the booming East Asian country had huge potential as a consumer market.

The official said: "Another reason for Chinese entrepreneurs' reluctance to invest money in Russia's economy is that there are no 'exclusive' proposals in natural resources production projects."

Ishayev said only five projects were being implemented out of the 13 projects, worth $800 million, which had been considered at the first Russian-Chinese forum in Khabarovsk in 2004, and that the volume of financing was only $4.3 million, or 0.5% of the total projected sum.

However, the governor said China has huge potential as a consumer market, and that bilateral cooperation was likely to focus on pipeline transport, development of ports and airports, agriculture, natural resources processing, and environmental protection projects.

He said Russia and China signed 10 investment agreements worth a total worth of over $1 billion during the November 9-13 investment forum in Beijing. The agreements envision cooperation in oil and gas, the power industry, banking, and aluminum production.

Last year, Russia was China's eighth largest trading partner after the United States, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. Trade between the two countries exceeded $29 billion.

Russia and China hope to more than double the current annual turnover in the next few years.

Ishayev said natural resources account for 70% of trade with China, while the share of high-tech goods Russia supplies to China is just over 2%. He said 70% of China's exports to Russia are high-tech products.

Related Links
Germanwatch
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com
Learn about Climate Science at TerraDaily.com