Abstract
The number and coverage of climate change mitigation policies have increased in the past twenty years, but important policy adoption gaps remain. To analyse sectoral climate policy in the G20 over time (2000–2019), we compiled a dataset of climate change mitigation-relevant policies and identified 50 key policy options that constitute a comprehensive sectoral climate policy package. Approximately half of these policy options are not widely adopted. Adoption is particularly low for policies that aim to: phase out coal and oil and mandate energy reductions in electricity and heat supply; reduce industrial process emissions and incentivise fuel switch in industry; design urban planning strategies for retrofits; and support the use of renewable energy for cooking and heating/cooling purposes in buildings. Policies to remove fossil fuel subsidies and support carbon dioxide removal also need substantial improvement. However, many policy adoption gaps exist as the coverage of at least one policy option could be improved in each sector. Policy adoption gaps leave at least one-tenth of the G20’s emissions completely uncovered. Filling these gaps is fundamental to realize the full mitigation potential of existing policy options and to advance the transition towards global net zero greenhouse gas emissions. Key policy insights: Mitigation-related policy options can be presented as a matrix by sector to shed light on what constitutes a comprehensive climate policy package; looking across sectoral climate policies helps to unpack and clarify the status of adoption. Policy adoption gaps exist in all sectors. Increasing the sectoral coverage of climate policies will help to ensure that all relevant sectoral emissions and mitigation areas are considered in national mitigation efforts. Even if an increase in policy coverage alone does not ensure emission reductions, the absence of policy coverage indicates that emissions can still be further reduced and that a portion of global emissions remain uncovered by policies. Despite the observed increase in the number and coverage of climate policies, slow progress towards reducing global emissions and meeting the collective Paris climate goals calls for more comprehensive climate change mitigation policies. Filling policy adoption gaps presents a concrete strategy to improve sectoral, national and global climate policy.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 158-174 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Climate Policy |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 29 Oct 2021 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work is supported by H2020 European Institute of Innovation and Technology [grant agreement No. 821471 (ENGAGE)] and builds on work developed [grant number 642147 (CD-LINKS)]. The authors would like to thank Rik Leemans (Wageningen University) for the valuable comments. We would also like to thank the following people supporting the review of the policy database: Chenmin He (Energy Research Institute, China), Zbigniew Klimont, Nicklas Forsell, Jessica Chalmers and Olga Turkovska (IIASA), Amit Garg (Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad), Roberta Pierfederici (IDDRI), Ucok WR Siagian (Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia), Jiyong Eom and Cheolhung Cho (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), Junichiro Oda (RITE, Japan), Aayushi Awasthy and Swapnil Shekhar (TERI, India), Hongjun Zhang (Tsinghua University), Nick Macaluso (Environment and Climate Change, Canada), Michael Boulle and Hilton Trollipp (Energy Research Centre, South Africa) and Daniel Buira (IDDRI and Tempus Analitica), Vladimir Potachnikov from (Higher School of Economics, Russia), Masahiro Suzuki (Central European University), and Ioannis Dafnomilis (PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Funding
This work is supported by H2020 European Institute of Innovation and Technology [grant agreement No. 821471 (ENGAGE)] and builds on work developed [grant number 642147 (CD-LINKS)]. The authors would like to thank Rik Leemans (Wageningen University) for the valuable comments. We would also like to thank the following people supporting the review of the policy database: Chenmin He (Energy Research Institute, China), Zbigniew Klimont, Nicklas Forsell, Jessica Chalmers and Olga Turkovska (IIASA), Amit Garg (Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad), Roberta Pierfederici (IDDRI), Ucok WR Siagian (Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia), Jiyong Eom and Cheolhung Cho (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), Junichiro Oda (RITE, Japan), Aayushi Awasthy and Swapnil Shekhar (TERI, India), Hongjun Zhang (Tsinghua University), Nick Macaluso (Environment and Climate Change, Canada), Michael Boulle and Hilton Trollipp (Energy Research Centre, South Africa) and Daniel Buira (IDDRI and Tempus Analitica), Vladimir Potachnikov from (Higher School of Economics, Russia), Masahiro Suzuki (Central European University), and Ioannis Dafnomilis (PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency).
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Aayushi Awasthy and Swapnil Shekhar | |
| Daniel Buira | |
| Higher School of Economics, Russia), Masahiro Suzuki | |
| IDDRI | |
| Ioannis Dafnomilis | |
| Jiyong Eom and Cheolhung Cho | |
| Michael Boulle and Hilton Trollipp | |
| PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency | |
| TERI | |
| Horizon 2020 Framework Programme | |
| H2020 European Institute of Innovation and Technology | 821471, 642147 |
| Tsinghua University | |
| Central European University | |
| Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology | |
| Institut Teknologi Bandung |
Keywords
- climate change mitigation
- G20
- Policy coverage
- policy database
- policy instruments
- sectoral policy
