How Do You Tell If Climate Laws Really Work? Start By Counting Them

How Do You Tell If Climate Laws Really Work? Start By Counting Them

There are now at least 1,800 climate laws on the books worldwide. But have they made any difference?



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It's been a long 23 years since the Kyoto Protocol called on industrialized nations to reduce greenhouse emissions. Since then, countries the world over have been formulating their own climate laws, yet emissions have continued their relentless rise. The UN estimates that by 2030 we will be producing 56 gigatons of CO2e annually—more than twice as much as the level required to keep within the Paris Agreement global warming limit of 1.5 Celsius by 2100.

So it's fair to ask: are climate laws really working?

That's one of the questions tackled in a new study from researchers in the U.K. who wanted to get