Environment at a Glance Dashboard

Effective climate action is critical to achieve the Paris Agreement goals. Countries have adopted diverse policy approaches to meet their climate mitigation targets, reflecting varying levels of ambition, emissions profiles, technical capabilities, and political, economic, social, and institutional conditions. However, there is evidence that policies implemented fall short of meeting declared policy commitments, suggesting the existence of an implementation gap.

This section draws on the OECD Climate Actions and Policies Measurement Framework (CAPMF). The CAPMF tracks countries’ climate action through 130 policy variables, grouped into 56 policies, across 50 countries from 1990 to 2023. By tracking climate policies in a consistent and harmonised way, the CAPMF can support policy analysis that help countries evaluate different policy approaches. While the CAPMF illustrates the evolution of climate action over time for a group of policies and provides insights into various policy types and sectors where they have been implemented, it is not designed to directly measure the effectiveness of these measures.

Market-based instruments (MBI) incentivise climate action either by direct economic benefit to economic agents or through price changes. MBIs can promote investments in low-carbon technologies while reducing the demand of GHG-intensive goods and assets by adjusting relative prices. Commonly used MBI include trading systems involving emission permits or renewable energy certificates, subsidies for low-carbon alternatives, and taxes and fees.

Non-market-based instruments (NMBI) are policy tools that promote low-carbon alternatives through legal obligations, non-monetary incentives, enhanced information or other enabling conditions. They are essential for mainstreaming advanced low-carbon technologies, providing climate-related information to stakeholders, fostering support for climate measures and developing infrastructure for low-carbon alternatives. Types of NMBI include standards, information instruments and voluntary approaches.

Targets, governance, climate data and international cooperation are key enabling conditions for effective climate mitigation. While these measures may not directly reduce GHG emissions, they provide a policy framework that sends long-term signals to relevant stakeholders. They also contribute to strengthen the institutional capacity needed to implement climate policies effectively, track progress and identify key emissions drivers. Given the global nature of climate change, and the uneven distribution of sources and impacts, fostering international coordination on climate mitigation is critical.