CANBERRA -- Asia, especially China, is now taking center stage in preparedness for the low-carbon economy, a report released by Australia's environmental group, the Climate Institute, said Tuesday.

The Climate Institute/GE Low-Carbon Competitiveness Index shows that China has leapt ahead from 7th place in the previous year to 3rd place after only France and Japan. The other two countries among the top five spots are South Korea and the United Kingdom.

The index is part of the Climate Institute's Global Climate Leadership Review 2013 report. It uses about 20 indicators in three areas to measure carbon competitiveness, namely sectoral composition, early preparedness, and future prosperity.

"It's clear that the center of clean energy gravity is shifting to Asia, China in particular. China has improved its ability to compete in the global low-carbon economy significantly, boosted by high-tech exports and just under half of global public equity investment in clean energy," John Connor, CEO of the Climate Institute, said.

"You see that China, through its reorientation and its new strategic priorities and their implementation, is already jumping up this index. The centre of gravity of this story is moving away from Europe," economist Lord Nicholas Stern said.

China, South Korea, South Africa and a number of other economies have also announced carbon pricing policies to come in effect in the next two years.

The index shows that the most dramatic decline in performance relates to the United States, which is now 11th down from 8th. Its decline is mainly due to lower public equity investment in clean energy, shrinking high-tech exports and a surge in reliance on emission intensive air freight.