Browse publications

Browse publications
State of Climate Action 2023
Publication date 14 Nov 2023

The State of Climate Action 2023 provides the world’s most comprehensive roadmap of how to close the gap in climate action across sectors to limit global warming to 1.5°C. It finds that recent progress toward 1.5°C-aligned targets isn’t happening at the pace and scale necessary and highlights where action must urgently accelerate this decade to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, scale up carbon removal and increase climate finance.

Transformative mitigation actions as an outcome of the Global Stocktake
Publication date 18 Sep 2023

The Global Stocktake under the Paris Agreement offers an opportunity to formulate specific messages for increasing climate change mitigation to inform Parties in updating and enhancing their actions.

NewClimate Institute at the Bonn Climate Change Conference (SB 58)
Publication date 05 Jun 2023

The midyear UN climate conference “ 58th session of the Subsidiary Bodies” will take place from 5 to 15 June 2023. NewClimate Institute will be present in Bonn participating in multiple events. Additionally, we will release related publications before and during thhe SB58. You can find all information on this page.

Greenhouse gas distributions to inform the global stocktake
Publication date 03 Mar 2023

In this analysis, we demonstrate how global progress across a range of sectoral emission indicators can be assessed using performance distributions to allow for a detailed and nuanced analysis without singling out individual countries.

State of Climate Action 2022
Publication date 26 Oct 2022

This report assesses progress across 40 indicators of systems change and finds that none are on track to reach their 2030 targets.

Introducing performance distributions to visualise collective progress towards mitigation goals of the Paris Agreement
Publication date 09 Jun 2022

Visualising country progress as performance distributions fulfils the GST’s criteria of evaluating collective progress while communicating that not all countries are the same.

State of Climate Action 2021
Publication date 28 Oct 2021

Combatting the climate crisis requires us to rapidly transform the systems that propel our economy, including power generation, buildings, industry, transport, land use, and agriculture—as well as the immediate scale-up of technological carbon removal. But by how much? And how can decision-makers unlock the transformational change that is required? The State of Climate Action 2021 identifies 40 indicators across key sectors that must transform to address the climate crisis, and assesses how current trends will impact how much work remains to be done by 2030 and 2050 to deliver a zero-carbon...

The Emissions Gap Report 2021
Publication date 26 Oct 2021

This is the twelfth edition of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Emissions Gap Report. It assesses the gap between estimated future global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions if countries implement their climate mitigation pledges and the global emission levels from least-cost pathways that are aligned with achieving the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement. This difference between “where we are likely to be and where we need to be” has become known as the ‘emissions gap’. The report also examines further areas that are highly relevant for bridging the gap: updated NDCs and Net...

Publication in Nature Climate Change: Wave of net zero emission targets opens window to meeting the Paris Agreement
Publication date 16 Sep 2021

This article published in "Nature Climate Change" analyses the recent wave of national net zero targets showing that there is significant momentum which could bring the temperature limit of the Paris Agreement within reach. Summary: A total of 131 countries are discussing, have announced, or have adopted net zero targets, covering 72% of global emissions. National net zero emission targets could, if fully implemented, substantially lower projected temperature increase compared to currently implemented policies (2.9–3.2 °C) or pledges submitted to the Paris Agreement (2.4–2.9 °C). While being a...

Climate Action Tracker Global update: Climate target updates slow as science ramps up need for action
Publication date 15 Sep 2021

In these briefings, the Climate Action Tracker (CAT) introduces its new rating methodology, which now rates more elements than before – mitigation targets in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), policies and action, and climate finance. We’ve also added a methodology for assessing net zero targets. These briefings provides an overview of the development in climate action over the last year and illustrates the new CAT assessment of the countries we analyse, based on our updated method. Summary Code red: The new IPCC report on climate science has reinforced the absolute urgency of closing...

National ‘fair shares’ in reducing greenhouse gas emissions within the principled framework of international environmental law
Publication date 09 Sep 2021

International environmental law principles are used to assess indicators of fair share emissions reductions and narrow the range of what is considered a fair share for individual countries. Main Findings: This article tests fairness justifications offered in 168 nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to the 2015 Paris Agreement against the touchstone of principles of international environmental law. It finds that while many NDCs refer to elements and indicators that are backed by principles of international law in determining fair shares (sustainable development, special circumstances...

Greenhouse gas emission scenarios in nine key non-G20 countries: An assessment of progress toward 2030 climate targets
Publication date 01 Jun 2021

This study published in the "Environmental Science & Policy" journal assesses if nine key non-G20 countries meet 2030 GHG targets with existing policies. Main Findings: This study compares greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions projections in 2030 under current policies and those under 2030 mitigation targets for nine key non-G20 countries, that collectively account for about 5 % of global total emissions today. These include the four largest non-G20 fossil CO 2 emitting Parties to the UN climate convention pre-Paris Agreement (Iran, Kazakhstan, Thailand and Ukraine) and one of the largest land-use...

The Challenges of Assessing “Collective Progress”: Design Options for an effective Global Stocktake process under the UNFCCC
Publication date 07 May 2021

The Paris Agreement established a Global Stocktake process as a key safeguard mechanism to facilitate enhancement of the NDCs toward meeting the collective goals of the Agreement. This paper examines the questions of what an effective Global Stocktake process would look like, and what information and data are needed to support it. Main findings: We identify four functions that an effective Global Stocktake should fulfil; acting as a pacemaker of policy processes, ensuring accountability of countries actions, driving enhanced ambition in subsequent NDC cycles, and providing guidance and signal...

Decarbonising the Indian transport sector: pathways and policies
Publication date 17 Dec 2020

The Climate Action Tracker explored a new approach to understanding opportunities for sectoral decarbonisation, using the example of the transport sector in India. To hold global average temperature increase to 1.5°C, global CO2 emissions need to reach net-zero by 2050, with rapid decarbonisation in all sectors. Global transport emissions have continued to steadily increase, with transport emissions accounting for 24 percent of direct CO2 emissions from fuel combustion. In this study we look specifically at how India can decarbonise its transport sector, its fastest-growing source of carbon...

Climate Action Tracker Global update: Paris Agreement Turning Point
Publication date 01 Dec 2020

The recent wave of net zero targets has put the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C within striking distance. In this briefing, the Climate Action Tracker (CAT) has calculated that global warming by 2100 could be as low as 2.1°C as a result of all the net zero pledges announced as of November 2020. Included in our new modelling is the announcement by China in September 2020 that it intends to reach carbon neutrality before 2060, which reduces the CAT end of century warming estimate by 0.2 to 0.3°C alone. Assuming carbon neutrality in the USA by 2050, as proposed by President-Elect Biden, would reduce...

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