Five Friday Facts: Ranking G20 Countries’ Sustainability

A recent report produced by Corporate Knights, “a media, research and financial products company focused on quantifying and animating clean capitalism drivers for decision makers,” ranked the top G20 countries in terms of sustainability. Today’s Five Friday Facts will be a bit different. We’re including the rankings and a few associated facts:

1. Germany, score: 80.42
   -Nearly 14 percent of the country’s power generation capacity comes from renewable energy sources, not including hydroelectric power production. Germany also ranked highest for gender equality, which measures the degree to which women participate in the economy, pursue an education, occupy power positions in politics and get access to health care.
2. Japan, score: 77.23
   -Japan had the highest energy and carbon productivity of all G20 countries. Japan also scored best on the Gini index, which is an economic measure of income inequality.
3. Australia, score: 73.22
   -Australia is perceived as the least corrupt country in the G20 and a great place to get an education, offering the best balance of access, cost and quality. The introduction earlier this year of a national carbon tax is expected to spur more green energy development.
4. United Kingdom, score: 70.49
5. United States, score: 65.32
6. Canada, score: 62.48
7. Korea, score: 59.09
8. France, score: 58.07
9. Italy, score: 55.95
10. The European Union: 52.45
11. Argentia: 33.80
12. Mexico: 33.64
13. China: 31.58
14. Brazil: 31.81
15. Russia: 27.98
16. Turkey: 27.92
17. Indonesia: 26.96
18. South Africa: 23.60
19. India: 19.79
20. Saudi Arabia: 14.79

Image source: Metropolitan Museum of Art