In 2023, national and international climate policy advanced in many areas but also faced substantial domestic hurdles in others. Countries agreed on new global initiatives and many major emitters expanded national climate policies. However, others rolled back existing policies and continued to support fossil fuels, slowing down global progress.
Key points
-
A tug of war between negative developments in some countries and positive developments in others is insufficient. It is only with all countries moving in the same direction that climate policy will reach the pace needed to safeguard sustainable development for all.
-
Domestic developments are often contradictory, as demonstrated by the simultaneous expansion of coal and renewables in major emitters. Ensuring coherent climate policies within countries’ borders remains fundamental to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement.
-
New initiatives and mechanisms to support international cooperation, such as the Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency Pledge, help to advance national and global climate policy, but they will require credible national action to back them up.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$99.00 per year
only $8.25 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Liu, Z., Deng, Z., Davis, S. J. & Ciais, P. Global carbon emissions in 2023. Nat. Rev. Earth Environ. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-024-00532-2 (2024).
UNFCCC. Draft decision-/CMA.5: Outcome of the first global stocktake. In FCCC/PA/CMA/2023/L.17 (UNFCCC, 2023).
IPCC. Synthesis Report of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) - Summary for policymakers. https://report.ipcc.ch/ar6syr/pdf/IPCC_AR6_SYR_SPM.pdf (2023).
Nascimento, L., Kuramochi, T. & Höhne, N. The G20 emission projections to 2030 improved since the Paris Agreement, but only slightly. Mitig. Adapt. Strateg. Glob. Chang. 27, 39 (2022).
Climate Action Tracker. COP28 initiatives will only reduce emissions if followed through. https://climateactiontracker.org/publications/cop28-initiatives-create-buzz-will-only-reduce-emissions-if-followed-through/ (2023).
den Elzen, M. et al. Updated nationally determined contributions collectively raise ambition levels but need strengthening further to keep Paris goals within reach. Mitig. Adapt. Strateg. Glob. Chang. 27, 33 (2022).
West, T. A. P. et al. Action needed to make carbon offsets from forest conservation work for climate change mitigation. Science 381, 873–877 (2023).
Nascimento, L. et al. Greenhouse gas mitigation scenarios for major emitters. Analysis of current climate policies and mitigation commitments: 2023 update. https://newclimate.org/resources/publications/emissions-scenarios-for-major-economies-2023-update (2023).
Bistline, J. et al. Emissions and energy impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act. Science 380, 1324–1327 (2023).
IEA. Coal Market Update - July 2023. https://www.iea.org/reports/coal-market-update-july-2023 (2023).
Acknowledgements
We thank I. Dafnomilis, E. Hooijschuur, S. Woollands, A. Missirliu, J. Wong, H. Fekete, G. de Vivero, S. Lui, N. Pelekh, F. Hans, M. J. de Villafranca Casas, N. Forsell and Z. Araujo Gutiérrez for their insights into policies adopted in different countries. We also thank L. Jeffery, H. Fearnehough, C. Hareesh Kumar and L. Ock for their inputs. This work was supported by the H2020 European Institute of Innovation and Technology (grant agreement 101056873 (ELEVATE)).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nascimento, L., Godinho, C., Kuramochi, T. et al. Climate policy in 2023. Nat Rev Earth Environ 5, 255–257 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-024-00541-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-024-00541-1