Study: Almost all climate measures pure symbolic politics
Published 2024-09-18

Researchers at the universities of Potsdam and Oxford have, over two decades, examined approximately 1,500 climate measures in 41 different countries. The resulting study shows that political decision-makers and other actors have been more interested in profiling themselves as climate-conscious and signaling green goodness than in doing something that effectively reduces greenhouse gas emissions - for example, expanding nuclear power to phase out coal power.

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Of the 1,500 climate measures studied in the years 1998 to 2022, only a fraction – 63 – can be said to have had any significant effect on the emissions of CO2 and other so-called heat-trapping gases. However, all measures – meaningful or not – have entailed significant costs or other negative consequences for ordinary citizens as taxpayers and consumers.

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The researchers have also found that there is a considerable difference in what works in rich, well-functioning countries compared to dysfunctional developing countries. This is to the detriment of the latter. An exception mentioned in the study is South Africa's construction sector, where a combination of regulation, subsidies and labeling of equipment almost halved emissions. However, it is not clear from each to which levels in absolute numbers.

Insignificant reduction in emissions
All in all, the researchers write that the political climate measures that the decision-makers beat the big drum for in order to surround themselves with a green image, even together, have not led to more than a negligible and insignificant reduction in emissions at the margin.

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- It basically shows that we have to do a better job, says Nicolas Koch, who is one of the initiators of the study and director of the policy evaluation laboratory at the Mercator Research Institute in Berlin.

Burning coal the big culprit in the drama
The sectors of the economy that the researchers focused on are four in number: electricity, transport, buildings and industry. The study returns to the fact that the burning of coal is one of the biggest culprits in the drama. At the same time, green climate policy has been generally anti-nuclear, even though it is the only type of energy that can be seriously used to phase out coal.