Policy

Climate change policies are economic, social and industrial policies that aim to minimize greenhouse gas emissions or to meet adaptation challenges resulting from the changing climate.  The largest greenhouse gas emissions reduction regime is the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement that sets binding targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 5.2% below 1990 levels by 2012.¹  There are also an increasing number of national and local climate change policies and initiatives being proposed as countries and communities become increasingly aware of the effects of and their role in climate change. 

Along with explicit climate change policies, Sustainable Development Policies and Measures (SDPAMs), which generally aim to achieve a sustainable balance between economic development, social development and environmental protection², frequently include an important consideration of climate change.  The United Nations Division for Sustainable Development includes climate change as coming within the scope of sustainable development.³

 Some prominent carbon reduction policies include:

• Cap and Trade Mechanisms: set a target for emissions reductions for an entire country, region or sector and assign carbon emissions permits to each actor in the system. Permits are traded among actors to achieve maximum efficiency and least cost emissions reductions.

• Carbon Tax: levies duty on emissions across sectors designed to incentivize reductions.