Identifying and tracking climate change mitigation strategies
A cluster-based assessment
This paper identifies different types of climate change mitigation strategies countries
adopted over the last two decades and assesses the policy synergies they might generate.
The analysis exploits the rich policy repository of the OECD’s Climate Actions and
Policies Measurement Framework (CAPMF). This is the most comprehensive and harmonised
mitigation policy database to date, covering more than 120 policy instruments and
50 countries over 2000-20. Statistical cluster analysis yields four types of mitigation
strategies, which differ in the variety and stringency of mitigation policies. Until
the mid-2000s mitigation strategies were similar and based on few policies and low
overall stringency. They started to differentiate in the mid-2000s and then in the
mid-2010s as some countries enlarged the variety of policy instruments and raised
stringency. Regression results indicate that emissions are negatively associated with
the overall stringency of the country’s mitigation strategies. Moreover, this relationship
is stronger for mitigation strategies comprising a larger set of instruments, pointing
to larger policy synergies.
Published on December 21, 2023
In series:OECD Economics Department Working Papersview more titles