Jakarta—Transparency International’s “Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2024” report reveals that corruption is a serious obstacle to climate crisis mitigation efforts. Corruption undermines environmental policies and diverts funds that should be used to address global warming to interests that have no impact on environmental protection.
“Corruption slows down meaningful climate action. Without transparency and accountability, funds allocated for climate crisis mitigation can be misused. At the same time, vested interests can undermine important environmental policies,” said Transparency International CEO Maira Martini, quoted from the official CPI 2024 report, Friday, February 21.
The CPI 2024 report highlights the corruption index scores of 180 countries. The scores are calculated based on perceptions of the level of corruption in the public sector on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). The data shows that countries most vulnerable to climate change tend to have low CPI scores, indicating weak governance and a high risk of corruption.
For example, Indonesia scored 37, lower than other Southeast Asian countries, such as Malaysia (47) and Singapore (83). Countries most affected by climate change, such as South Sudan (8), Somalia (9) and Venezuela (10), showed very low scores, reflecting significant challenges in environmental governance and public funds management.
The CPI report also highlights that some countries that play a role in global climate negotiations have poor or declining corruption scores in this index. Brazil, which will host COP 30 in 2025, scored 34. Azerbaijan, the host of the previous climate summit, had a score of 22. The United Arab Emirates, which is hosting COP 28 in 2023, recorded a score of 68, which is relatively better but is still facing challenges in clean governance.
Developed countries that often lead climate change negotiations also saw their CPI scores drop. Canada scored 75, New Zealand 83, and the United States 65. Transparency International highlights that these countries are responsible for supporting ambitious climate policies, reducing emissions at scale, and strengthening global resilience to climate change.
“Developed countries must ensure political interests and corruption do not hamper climate policy and finance. Concrete steps are needed to improve transparency in the distribution of climate funds to achieve the set targets,” Martini continued.
Transparency International proposes implementing a stricter transparency and accountability system in global climate policy as a solution. The organisation recommends increased oversight of climate finance, more transparent mechanisms for tracking the use of funds, and stricter law enforcement against corrupt practices that harm the environment.
The report is a reminder that successful climate change mitigation depends not only on technological innovation and political commitment, but also on clean and transparent governance. Without improvements in this aspect, efforts to achieve net zero emission targets could be hampered by vested interests and entrenched corrupt practices. (Hartatik)
Banner photo: Image generated by OpenAI’s DALL·E via ChatGPT (2025)
