G20 countries’ climate policies fail to make the grade on Paris promises

With the critical next round of international climate talks due to take place at COP26 in Glasgow in November this year, the world’s largest economies are far from having the right policy plans in place to meet the green pledges made at the COP21 climate conference in Paris in 2015, let alone bolder new promises to decarbonise, according to new research from BloombergNEF (BNEF).

BNEF’s G20 Zero-Carbon Policy Scoreboard evaluates the G20 countries’ decarbonisation policies to measure which governments have implemented regimes to realise the goals of the Paris Agreement, or more substantial decarbonisation. It highlights examples of what works and could be replicated elsewhere, and flags where more progress is needed.  

‘The high-level pledges over the last year in particular have been impressive, with major economies such as the European Union, Japan, South Korea and China all promising to get to “net zero” emissions or carbon neutrality at some future date,’ says Victoria Cuming, Head of Global Policy Analysis for BNEF. ‘But the reality is that countries simply haven’t done enough at home with follow-through policies to meet even the promises made more than five years ago.’

Much of the progress achieved to date globally in cutting the rate of growth of CO₂ emissions has come in the power sector. The report evaluates national and regional power policies, while also examining other major segments of the global economy responsible for CO₂ output – road transport, green fuels, buildings, industry and the circular economy.

‘While some power-sector policies have delivered results, most countries have done little elsewhere in the economy,’ adds Cuming. ‘And even within each sector, it’s not enough to implement incentives for one technology – multiple pathways are required.’