Skip to main content
Log in

Taking stock of the implementation gap in climate policy

  • Comment
  • Published:

From Nature Climate Change

View current issue Submit your manuscript

A gap persists between the emissions reductions pledged by countries under the Paris Agreement and those resulting from their domestic policies. We argue that this gap in fact contains two parts: one in the policies that countries adopt, and the other in the outcomes that those policies achieve.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1: The implementation gap and its contributing factors.
Fig. 2: The policy adoption gap (2014–2019) and pledge ambition ranking for select parties to the Paris Agreement.
Fig. 3: Strength of domestic climate policy (2018–2022) versus climate-related outcomes (2023).

Data availability

Data for Figs. 2 and 3 are available in the Supplementary Data.

References

  1. IPCC Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change (eds Shukla, P. R. et al.) (Univ. Cambridge, 2022).

  2. UNEP Emissions Gap Report 2022 (UNEP, 2022).

  3. Climate Action Tracker (Climate Analytics, New Climate Institute, accessed 1 June 2023); www.climateactiontracker.org

  4. Victor, D. G., Lumkowsky, M. & Dannenberg, A. Nat. Clim. Change 12, 793–800 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Bernauer, T. Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci. 16, 421–448 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Rogelj, J. et al. Science 380, 1014–1016 (2023).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Ciplet, D., Roberts, J. T. & Khan, M. R. Power in a Warming World: The New Global Politics of Climate Change and the Remaking of Environmental Inequality (MIT Press, 2015).

  8. Meckling, J. et al. Science 378, 31–33 (2022).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Skocpol, T. Naming the Problem: What It Will Take to Counter Extremism and Engage Americans in the Fight against Global Warming (Columbia School of Journalism, Scholars Strategy Network, 2013).

  10. Schmid, N., Sewerin, S. & Schmidt, T. S. Policy Stud. J. 48, 4 (2019).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Stokes, L. C. Short Circuiting Policy: Interest Groups and the Battle Over Clean Energy and Climate Policy in the American States (Oxford Univ. Press, 2020).

  12. Meckling, J. & Nahm, J. Governance 31, 741–757 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Rennkamp, B. Clim. Policy 19, 756–770 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Senshaw, D. A. & Kim, J. W. Energy Policy 116, 433–443 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Hoppmann, J. et al. Res. Policy 42, 989–1003 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Peñasco, C., Anadón, L. D. & Verdolini, E. Nat. Clim. Change 11, 257–265 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Burck, J. et al. CCPI Results (Climate Action Network International, Germanwatch, NewClimate Institute, 2023).

Download references

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge funding from the Swiss Network for International Studies. J.M. acknowledges funding from the National Science Foundation (grant no. 2224086). T.S.S. acknowledges funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation. T.F. acknowledges financial support from the Link Energy Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

Conceptualization: J.M. and T.F.; formal analysis: T.F.; visualization: T.F. and A.S.; writing (original draft): T.F., J.M. and A.S.; writing (reviewing and editing): T.F., J.M., A.S., T.S., F.E., N.S. and C.B.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jonas Meckling.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Data

Data for Figs. 2 and 3.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Fransen, T., Meckling, J., Stünzi, A. et al. Taking stock of the implementation gap in climate policy. Nat. Clim. Chang. 13, 752–755 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01755-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01755-9

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Navigation