Which climate policies actually make a difference? This new analysis has the answer
Xavier Fernández i Marín, Christoph Knill, Markus Hinterleitner, Yves Steinebach
University of Barcelona, Ludwig-Maxmilians University of Munich, University of Lausanne, University of Oslo
Countries worldwide have dramatically ramped up their climate policies over the past two decades. The number of climate measures has quadrupled since 2000, with some datasets showing a fifteen-fold increase.
Governments now deploy dozens of different policies simultaneously – carbon taxes, renewable energy subsidies, building codes, emissions standards, research funding, and more. They all work together, influence each other, and jointly affect emissions.
But when emissions drop (or do not), how do we tell which policies deserve the credit? Which ones actually make a difference in any circumstances? That’s the challenge facing climate policy researchers today – and we’ve found a way to solve it.
This article was originally published in The Conversation