Source: AFP
A major new study published Thursday on the effectiveness of climate measures such as taxes or subsidies to reduce greenhouse gases found that individual measures fail to make much of a difference.
Published in the journal Science, the study examined 25 years of public policy in 41 countries on six continents.
It concluded that out of 1,500 policies analyzed in sectors such as energy, transport and construction, it found “only 63 cases of successful climate policies, each leading to average emissions reductions of 19 percent”.
“Researchers show that bans on coal-fired power plants or cars with internal combustion engines do not lead to significant emission reductions when implemented alone,” said the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) which led the study with Mercator Research. Institute on Global Commons. and Climate Change (MCC).
Read also
Canada’s rail freight shutdown threatens to disrupt the economy
“Successful cases only arise alongside tax incentives or price incentives in well-designed policy combinations, as seen in the UK for coal-fired electricity generation or in Norway for cars,” the researchers said.
The study used a new OECD database and an innovative approach that combined machine learning methods with established statistical analyses.
“It identified 63 successful policy interventions with total emission reductions of between 0.6 billion and 1.8 billion tonnes of CO2.”
By comparison, humanity emitted 57.4 billion tons of CO2 equivalent in 2022, according to United Nations estimates.
Among the successes identified were Britain’s 2013 introduction of a minimum carbon price, subsidies for renewable energy and a plan to phase out coal.
The researchers hope their work will influence the climate roadmaps that countries update and must submit to the UN by February 2025.
Read also
US jobs data shows weaker than expected market
The goal of these roadmaps is to keep alive the Paris Agreement’s flagship goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
“The right mix is critical”
An interactive website, Climate Policy Exploration, provides an overview of the results, analysis and methods and is accessible to the public.
“Our findings show that more policies do not necessarily equate to better outcomes. Instead, the right mix of measures is crucial,” explained study lead author Nicolas Koch of PIK and MCC.
“For example, subsidies or regulations alone are insufficient; only in combination with price-based instruments such as carbon and energy taxes can they deliver significant emissions reductions.”
“But by focusing on just 69 statistically identifiable large trend changes, they miss the impact of thousands of smaller efforts worldwide and the cumulative and often self-reinforcing impact of many smaller measures,” said Michael Grubb at University College London.
It also acknowledged “the most sophisticated study to date.”
Read also
The rise in UK debt is limiting the fiscal options for the new government
“Their conclusion that large impacts require combinations of policies makes perfect sense,” he added.
“The study only looks for policies that make sudden reductions, whereas most climate policies work on the effectiveness of new things or the long-term trajectory of emissions, requiring many years to create greener infrastructure or ways of life,” said Robin Lamboll at Imperial . London College.
Source: AFP
