To meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and avoid the worst outcomes of climate change, the world needs to rapidly reduce carbon emissions. Identifying effective policies to reach national climate goals has been challenging, but a new study published in Science examined 1500 climate policies implemented over the last two decades, and found 63 that were successful. Researchers have outlined those policies in the paper, so other countries and regulators can emulate their success.
Using advanced statistical analysis, the researchers compared carbon dioxide emissions from 41 countries with those from analogous countries to control for extenuating circumstances like the global pandemic or fluctuations in energy prices. The scientists were looking for “breaks” or sudden changes in emissions that couldn’t be accounted for by anything other than policy interventions.
The study found the most effective way to lower emissions for industries in developed countries is to make producing carbon emissions more expensive. That could take the form of a tax on carbon or removing subsidies for fossil fuels.
“It turns out that pricing is particularly effective in those sectors where you have a lot of profit maximizing companies, and that of course applies to industry and the electricity sector, in industrialized countries with a strong economy,” Nicolas Koch, co-author of the study and researcher with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany, told Mongabay in a phone call.
Many developing countries, however, have state-owned energy companies with regulated prices and energy inputs. For these countries, the researchers found a combination of tactics working in tandem was the most effective approach.
Koch gave China’s cap-and-trade scheme as an example. “China introduced pilot emission trading schemes putting a price on carbon for industrial firms in seven provinces of China.,” he said. On top of the carbon pricing China also reduced fossil fuel subsidies and gave financial incentives for energy efficiency measures.
The same tandem approach also works for reducing emissions from buildings. In Sweden regulators introduced subsidies to make it easier for homeowners to improve the efficiency of their homes. Many countries have done that, but Koch said what made Sweden successful was also telling homeowners that the price of heating fuel, both oil and gas, was about to more than double.
Most of the successful policies in the study took this carrot and stick approach. They make carbon emissions expensive and energy efficiency affordable. Koch said he hopes this study will provide regulators with guidance for future emissions reduction strategies.
“We hope that this really applied evidence for very specific cases, looking at your neighbor countries or looking at your peer countries, learning about successes in that way, perhaps that might be helpful,” Koch said.
Banner image: by Pixabay via Pixels
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