Greenhouse gas emission reduction proposals and national climate policies of major economies

Since the climate negotiations that took place in Copenhagen, in 2009, many countries have submitted quantitative economy-wide greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, proposals, and actions for 2020. This policy brief by PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, Ecofys and IIASA shows, for the first time, by how much the most effective domestic climate policies in major emitting countries would contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and to fulfilling their pledges. The emission reductions that would result from the most important domestic policies were quantified and compared against the various national reduction proposals.

First study on how countries intend to achieve their proposals’ greenhouse gas emission reductions using national climate policies

Our assessment shows that the pledges have led to efforts of planning and implementing national policies in all countries. Those policies are likely to deliver emission reductions. For some of these policies we estimated that they may deliver higher emission reductions than expected from these countries’ international mitigation commitments. In other countries, further policies would have to be implemented to ensure that pledges will be met by 2020.

Authors

Niklas Höhne, Nadine Braun, Hanna Fekete, Ruut Brandsma, Julia Larkin, Michel den Elzen, Mark Roelfsema, Andries Hof, Hannes Böttcher

Specifications

Publication title
Greenhouse gas emission reduction proposals and national climate policies of major economies
Publication date
26 November 2012
Publication type
Publication
Product number
92747