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The Climate Policy Database, maintained by NewClimate Institute with support from PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and Wageningen University and Research, aims to gather information on climate mitigation policies and benchmark these against a policy matrix, that represents a comprehensive policy package to mitigate the effects of climate change. The database covers national mitigation-related policies and is updated periodically. Planned policies are excluded from the database, with an exception of energy and emission targets announced as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) for the post-2020 period.
We aim to establish an open, collaborative platform to gather information on climate-related policies, with full geographical and sectoral coverage. Therefore, we highly welcome your comments for continuous improvement and collaboration at: climatepolicydatabase@newclimate.org.
This project is funded by the European Union H2020 project ENGAGE and was, in the previous phase, funded by CD-Links.
The Climate Policy Database is updated periodically. We analyse various public sources to compile and categorise climate policies (see Table below). Each year, we create a static database for version control:
Version 2021: Contains policies adopted before the end of 2021. Policy coverage varies across countries but is comprehensive for G20 economies.
Version 2020: Contains policies adopted as of the end of 2020 by the G20 economies and non-comprehensive policy data for remaining countries.
Version 2019: Contains policies adopted as of the end of 2019 by the G20 economies, excluding European Union member states, and non-comprehensive policy data for remaining countries.
Policies are periodically updated. This means that policies adopted before the the latest version of the database can change. For most up to date data, always download the latest version of the database here.
Climate Policy Database publication
Nascimento, L., Kuramochi, T., Iacobuta, G., den Elzen, M., Fekete, H., Weishaupt, M., van Soest, H., Roelfsema, M., De Vivero-Serrano, G., Lui, S., Hans, F., Jose de Villafranca, M., & Höhne, N. (2021). Twenty years of climate policy: G20 coverage and gaps. Climate Policy. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2021.1993776
Related publications (as of March 2023)
Allegretti, G., Montoya, M.A., Bertussi, L.A.S. and Talamini, E. (2022) ‘When being renewable may not be enough: Typologies of trends in energy and carbon footprint towards sustainable development’, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 168, p. 112860. doi:10.1016/J.RSER.2022.112860
Best B, Thema J, Zell-Ziegler C, Wiese F, Barth J, Breidenbach S, Nascimento L, Wilke H. Building a database for energy sufficiency policies. F1000Res. 2022 Feb 24;11:229. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.108822.2. PMID: 35474880; PMCID: PMC9010800.
Chateau, J., Jaumotte, F. and Schwerhoff, G. (no date) ‘Climate Policy Options: A Comparison of Economic Performance’. doi:10.5089/9798400226953.001
D’Orazio, P. (2022) ‘Mapping the emergence and diffusion of climate-related financial policies: Evidence from a cluster analysis on G20 countries’, International Economics, 169, pp. 135–147. doi:10.1016/J.INTECO.2021.11.005
Giarola, S., Mittal, S., Vielle, M., Perdana, S., Campagnolo, L., Delpiazzo, E., Bui, H., Kraavi, A. A., Kolpakov, A., Sognnaes, I., Peters, G., Hawkes, A., Köberle, A. C., Grant, N., Gambhir, A., Nikas, A., Doukas, H., Moreno, J., & van de Ven, D.-J. (2021). Challenges in the harmonisation of global integrated assessment models: A comprehensive methodology to reduce model response heterogeneity. Science of The Total Environment, 783, 146861. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146861
Guy, J., Shears, E., & Meckling, J. (2023). National models of climate governance among major emitters. Nature Climate Change, 13(2), 189–195. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01589-x
Eisenkopf, A. and Burgdorf, C. (2022) ‘Policy measures and their impact on transport performance, modal split and greenhouse gas emissions in German long-distance passenger transport’, Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 14, p. 100615. doi:10.1016/J.TRIP.2022.100615
den Elzen, M.G.J., Dafnomilis, I., Forsell, N., et al. (2022) ‘Updated nationally determined contributions collectively raise ambition levels but need strengthening further to keep Paris goals within reach’, Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 27(6), p. 33. doi:10.1007/s11027-022-10008-7
Ghobadi, A., Fallah, M., Tavakkoli-Moghaddam, R. and Kazemipoor, H. (2022) ‘A Fuzzy Two-Echelon Model to Optimize Energy Consumption in an Urban Logistics Network with Electric Vehicles’, Sustainability 2022, Vol. 14, Page 14075, 14(21), p. 14075. doi:10.3390/SU142114075
Iacobuta, G., Dubash, N. K., Upadhyaya, P., Deribe, M., & Höhne, N. (2018). National climate change mitigation legislation, strategy and targets: a global update. Climate Policy, 18(9), 1114–1132. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2018.1489772
Kamińska, A.G. (2022) ‘Environmental Protection and Italian Constitutional Reform. Some Profiles of Interest and Critical Remarks’, Teka Komisji Prawniczej PAN Oddział w Lublinie, 15(1), pp. 73–84. doi:10.32084/tkp.4456
Linsenmeier, M., Mohommad, A., & Schwerhoff, G. (2022). Policy sequencing towards carbon pricing among the world’s largest emitters. Nature Climate Change. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01538-8
Malik, A., Bertram, C., Despres, J., Emmerling, J., Fujimori, S., Garg, A., Kriegler, E., Luderer, G., Mathur, R., Roelfsema, M., Shekhar, S., Vishwanathan, S., & Vrontisi, Z. (2020). Reducing stranded assets through early action in the Indian power sector. Environmental Research Letters, 15(9), 94091. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab8033
Mundaca, L., Sonnenschein, J., Steg, L., Höhne, N., & Ürge-Vorsatz, D. (2019). The global expansion of climate mitigation policy interventions, the Talanoa Dialogue and the role of behavioural insights. Environmental Research Communications, 1(6), 61001. https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ab26d6
Nascimento, L., Kuramochi, T. and Höhne, N. (2022) ‘The G20 emission projections to 2030 improved since the Paris Agreement, but only slightly’, Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 27(6), p. 39. doi:10.1007/s11027-022-10018-5
Roelfsema, M., van Soest, H.L., Harmsen, M. et al. Taking stock of national climate policies to evaluate implementation of the Paris Agreement. Nat Commun 11, 2096 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15414-6
Roelfsema, M., van Soest, H.L., den Elzen, M., et al. (2022) ‘Developing scenarios in the context of the Paris Agreement and application in the integrated assessment model IMAGE: A framework for bridging the policy-modelling divide’, Environmental Science & Policy, 135, pp. 104–116. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2022.05.001
Roelfsema, M., Fekete, H., Höhne, N., den Elzen, M., Forsell, N., Kuramochi, T., de Coninck, H., & van Vuuren, D. P. (2018). Reducing global GHG emissions by replicating successful sector examples: the ‘good practice policies’ scenario. Climate Policy, 18(9), 1103–1113. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2018.1481356
Schaub, S., Tosun, J., Jordan, A. and Enguer, J. (2022) ‘Climate Policy Ambition: Exploring A Policy Density Perspective’, Politics and Governance; Vol 10, No 3 (2022): Exploring Climate Policy Ambition [Preprint]. doi:10.17645/pag.v10i3.5347
Scott, W.A., Rhodes, E. and Hoicka, C. (2023) ‘Multi-level climate governance: examining impacts and interactions between national and sub-national emissions mitigation policy mixes in Canada’, https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2023.2185586 [Preprint]. doi:10.1080/14693062.2023.2185586
Shen, C. and Wang, Y. (2023) ‘Concerned or Apathetic? Exploring online public opinions on climate change from 2008 to 2019: A Comparative study between China and other G20 countries’, Journal of Environmental Management, 332, p. 117376. doi:10.1016/J.JENVMAN.2023.117376
Please note that the Climate Policy Database is not exhaustive. For example, the policy coverage and depth of information for each policy is unequal across countries analysed. Policies adopted at subnational level are not comprehensively covered. Please also note that this database is not reviewed by national government officials.
To enhance data quality and consistency, our data collection and coding were substantiated by experts working on the evaluation of international climate policies. National experts also reviewed a subset of policies considered to have high emissions reduction potential. Even if covering all policies to their full extent was impossible, the database provides insights about policy trends over time and supports claims about policy adoption, especially in the G20.
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