2015 Global Climate legislation Study: Legislation in 99 Countries Summary for Policy-makers

The 2015 Global Climate Legislation Study, covering 98 countries plus the European Union which are together responsible for 93 per cent of global emissions, will be presented to delegates tomorrow (2 June) in Bonn, Germany, where the latest round of United Nations climate change negotiations is taking place. The study has been sponsored by GLOBE, the Global Legislators Organisation, and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the world organisation of parliaments which was established in 1889. Its results will be distributed to policy-makers around the world.

The study also found:

• the 98 countries and the European Union together had 804 climate laws and policies at the end of 2014, compared with 426 in 2009, when a previous attempt was made in Copenhagen, Denmark, to reach an international agreement. In 1997, when the Kyoto Protocol was agreed, these countries had just 54 climate laws and policies between them.
• 75 countries plus the European Union have frameworks for limiting greenhouse gas emissions, while 64 countries have frameworks for adapting to the impacts of climate change. However, only 37 countries have completed a fully comprehensive national climate change risk assessment.
• 47 countries, including the 28 Member States of the European Union, have introduced carbon pricing through either a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system.