1. Progress towards good practice
policies for reducing greenhouse gas
emissions
Niklas Höhne, Hanna Fekete, Takeshi Kuramochi,
Gabriela Iacobuta, Lukas Prinz
NewClimate Institute
COP21 EU pavilion side event
“Good practice climate policies – which countries apply them and what is the potential if all countries would?”
1 December, 2015
Paris, France

2. New publications on
mitigation policy progress
2 December 2015 www.newclimate.org 2
Policy database and initial analysis report
www.climatepolicydatabase.org http://newclimate.org/2015/12/01/
good-practice-policies/
Supported by the Netherlands Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment

3. The new climate policy
database
www.newclimate.org 3
Covers over 2400
existing/existed policies
in 112 countries
Provides comprehensive
overview of mitigation
policies
2 December 2015
www.climatepolicydatabase.org

4. Long-term goal of
the new database
To establish an open, collaborative platform to gather all climate-
related policies, with full geographical and sectoral coverage
Most cover either only some sectors or a subset of countries
Table: existing policy info sources covered in the new database
2 December 2015 www.newclimate.org 4

5. Policy coverage analysis for
30 major emitters
Analyses the coverage of
good practice policy menu
Assesses whether policies
exist
Does NOT assess whether
policies are ambitious or
effective
The 30 countries cover 82%
of total GHG emissions (2012,
incl. LULUCF)
Key feature of the database
2 December 2015 www.newclimate.org 5

6. Policy coverage analysis:
Analytical approach
1. Develop a good practice policy menu
• Based on 12 policy studies including those from
IEA, UNFCCC, UNEP, and the New Climate
Economy
2. Country-level identification of existing policies
in the policy menu
3. Evaluation of overall policy menu coverage
among the 30 countries
2 December 2015 www.newclimate.org 6

7. Initial results (1):
General and electricity/heat
www.newclimate.org 72 December 2015
Overall national climate strategy and planning is relatively well covered
Coverage for GHG reduction targets increased significantly during INDC process
Support for renewables is mainstream
Fossil fuel subsidies still prevalent

8. Initial results (2):
Industry and buildings
www.newclimate.org 82 December 2015
Energy efficiency (EE) in the industry: room for wider policy coverage
EE in buildings: relatively well covered
Low coverage for non-CO2 emissions reductions
Fossil fuel subsidies still prevalent

9. Initial results (3):
Transport and agri/forestry
www.newclimate.org 92 December 2015
>50% have support schemes for transport biofuels
Room for enhanced implementation of fuel efficiency standards
Fossil fuel subsidies still prevalent

10. Recommendations
Advance national target setting and strategy development
(significant improvement was made during the INDC
preparation process)
Supporting energy efficiency in all sectors
Supporting renewable energy in all sectors, in particular in
industry and heating and cooling of buildings
Removing fossil fuels subsidies
Supporting all areas outside of energy, in particular methane
from oil and gas production, waste, N2O emissions from
industrial processes, fluorinated gases and agriculture.
2 December 2015 www.newclimate.org 10

11. Future work
Climate policy database
Addressing the shortcomings identified
Policy coverage and depth of information not equal across countries
Coverage of subnational policies with significant impact
Review by country experts to ensure equal information depth
Policy menu coverage analysis
Wider coverage of countries
Include the fact that specific policy areas are more or less relevant for
individual countries, due to their different emission profile.
Assessment of the ambition level and the effectiveness of the policies
that have been implemented to date.
www.newclimate.org 112 December 2015

12. Thank you for your attention!
Contact details:
Dr. Takeshi Kuramochi
t.kuramochi@newclimate.org
www.newclimate.org
www.climatepolicydatabase.org

13. Backup slides
30 November 2015 13

14. Basic information provided
in the database
List of policies Policy details
www.newclimate.org 142 December 2015

15. What policies are considered
“good practice”?
“Good practice policies” defined as:
“climate and energy policies that have been - or are
being - implemented in various countries, have proven
their feasibility and generally agreed in the literature to
contribute directly or indirectly to significant deviation
from business-as-usual GHG emissions development
in specific (sub-) sectors, while possibly generating
co-benefits that contribute to meeting (other) national
development goals.”
www.newclimate.org 152 December 2015

16. Good practice policy menu
www.newclimate.org 162 December 2015

17. Summary of initial findings
Support for renewable electricity generation is mainstream
Efficiency in buildings and biofuels are half covered and therefore have
significant remaining potential
Removal of fossil fuel subsidies has very high potential
Overarching carbon pricing schemes are currently limited but increasing
in scope
Energy efficiency polices are not yet widely spread and could be
significantly enhanced
For all areas outside of energy, except deforestation, coverage is low
Strategies and policies to fundamentally change the way we consume are
underdeveloped, while such changes can be amongst the most cost-
effective.
Overall national climate strategy and planning is quite comprehensive
www.newclimate.org 172 December 2015