Trends in National Climate Legislation across the World

Strong legal frameworks and effective institutions are crucial in creating an enabling environment to achieve positive climate action and keep the average global temperatures below 20 C. Appropriate structures/ legal frameworks incentivize change, facilitating nations transition to a low carbon development pathway. Broadly, there are two distinct categories of policy instruments, one at the international level (multilateral, bilateral and global treaties) and the other at the national level (state and local bodies level). The failure of earlier treaties like the Kyoto Protocol (1997) and the ineffectiveness of current international treaties to arrest the rise of temperature and build an equitable carbon burden sharing framework has led to shifting the focus to more effective governance alternatives, both at national and sub national levels. The paper examines the broad trends in the formulation and adoption of national climate legislation across 193 countries. This sheds light on the policy and legal gaps necessary for achieving the climate target of keeping the average temperatures within 1.50 -2o C. It concludes with a broad analysis of the data and the full limitations and scope of this study