Climate Governance and Policy Frameworks

The governance of climate change encompasses the institutions, rules and processes that guide collective efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate impacts. Central to this field are multilateral agreements such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, which establish long-term temperature goals and invite governments to submit self-determined mitigation pledges known as Nationally Determined Contributions. Governance operates across scales: international treaties, national legislation, sub-national regulations, and transnational initiatives that engage cities, regions and private actors. Policy frameworks range from carbon pricing and emissions trading schemes to regulatory standards, fiscal incentives and technology standards. Recent advances have emphasised credibility and enforcement, linking political ambition to institutional capacity, as well as the integration of local and regional actions into national strategies. Emerging approaches such as climate clubs and carbon market clubs seek to harness a coalition of willing participants, using positive incentives and market mechanisms to elevate ambition. Understanding the interplay between domestic politics, multilevel governance and market-based mechanisms is critical to aligning policy design with the 1.5 °C and 2 °C goals and to mobilising finance for low-carbon development.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Studies have illuminated the role of sub-national actors in strengthening national climate strategies. Analyses of state, city and business commitments reveal that existing non-state actions could reduce national emissions significantly, providing a robust foundation for enhanced federal targets aligned with the 1.5 °C pathway. Expert assessments have also investigated the credibility of national pledges, demonstrating that more ambitious commitments often correlate with stronger political institutions and administrative capacity, challenging the notion of a trade-off between ambition and implementation. Additionally, theoretical reviews of the climate-club concept have revisited the potential of small coalitions of enthusiastic countries to deliver exclusive benefits, conditional commitments and normative leadership. By synthesising modelling and empirical evidence, these studies chart pathways for effective cooperation, highlighting incentives for reluctant countries and the design features necessary for durable, high-integrity alliances.

Research from all publishers

Historical analyses trace the evolution of the 2 °C global temperature target, examining how scientific assessments by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change informed its adoption in successive UNFCCC negotiations and the Paris Agreement. This work underscores the political nature of long-term temperature goals and their influence on low-carbon development trajectories. Comparative research on the domestic politics of mitigation ambition identifies key drivers of variation in Nationally Determined Contributions, finding that levels of democracy and climate vulnerability tend to increase ambition, whereas economic dependence on fossil rents can dampen it. Agent-based simulation studies of climate clubs explore conditions for their emergence and stability, highlighting the importance of initial membership, incentive design and compatibility of member interests. These findings point to the potential of alternative cooperative arrangements to complement formal UNFCCC processes and to accelerate global emissions reductions.

Climate Governance and Policy Frameworks publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in climate governance and policy frameworks across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Paris Agreement: An international treaty setting long-term temperature goals and requiring self-determined mitigation pledges.

Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC): A climate mitigation commitment submitted by a country under the Paris Agreement.

Climate club: A coalition of countries offering mutual benefits and conditional commitments to raise collective climate ambition.

Sub-national actor: A region, state or city government engaged in climate policy independent of national authorities.

Credibility of commitments: The assessed likelihood that a government’s policy pledge will be implemented as stated.

References

1. The 2 °C Global Temperature Target and the Evolution of the Long-Term Goal of Addressing Climate Change—From the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to the Paris Agreement. Engineering (2017).
2. Toward a club of carbon markets. Climatic Change (2015).
3. Fusing subnational with national climate action is central to decarbonization: the case of the United States. Nature Communications (2020).
4. Determining the credibility of commitments in international climate policy. Nature Climate Change (2022).
5. The domestic politics of international climate commitments: which factors explain cross-country variation in NDC ambition?. Environmental Research Letters (2020).
6. The Club Approach: A Gateway to Effective Climate Co-operation?. British Journal of Political Science (2017).
7. Climate change mitigation: a role for climate clubs?. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (2016).