Climate Action Tracker
Climate Action Tracker issued a stark assessment near the close of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference. The world, the project concluded, is likely heading for more than 2.4 degrees Celsius of warming by end of century. Its authors found that the current wave of net-zero emission goals is not matched by action on the ground. What kind of scientific project arrives at conclusions like that? And by what methods does it measure whether governments are keeping their climate promises?
The Paris Agreement set two interlocking temperature targets that Climate Action Tracker uses as its governing standard. One calls for holding warming well below 2 degrees Celsius. The other calls for pursuing efforts to limit that rise to 1.5 degrees. Both are described as globally agreed goals.
CAT covers 39 countries and the European Union, entities collectively responsible for more than 85 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Three distinct analytical frameworks give CAT the ability to assess each country's performance, with each one targeting a different dimension of climate action.
NewClimate Institute and Climate Analytics, the two organizations behind CAT, built the tracker around three specific lines of scrutiny. The first examines how climate policies and actions already in force are shifting actual emissions levels. The second assesses whether pledges, targets, and nationally determined contributions will deliver the needed cuts by 2030. That analysis extends further where the evidence allows. The third compares each country's effort against its fair share of the global task, tested against modelled domestic pathways.
Nationally determined contributions are the formal pledges each government files under the international climate framework. Placed alongside modelled domestic pathways, they reveal the gap between what has been promised and what the evidence says is required.
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Common questions
What is Climate Action Tracker and what does it do?
Climate Action Tracker is an independent scientific project that monitors whether governments are reducing greenhouse gas emissions in line with international agreements. It is a product of NewClimate Institute and Climate Analytics.
How many countries does Climate Action Tracker monitor?
Climate Action Tracker monitors 39 countries and the European Union. These entities are collectively responsible for more than 85 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
What temperature targets does Climate Action Tracker use as its standard?
Climate Action Tracker uses the Paris Agreement's two temperature targets as its standard. These are holding warming well below 2 degrees Celsius and pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5 degrees.
What three things does Climate Action Tracker measure?
Climate Action Tracker examines three things: the effect of existing climate policies on emissions, the impact of pledges and nationally determined contributions on national emissions through 2030, and the comparability of each country's effort against its fair share using modelled domestic pathways.
What did Climate Action Tracker conclude at COP26 in 2021?
Toward the end of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Climate Action Tracker found that the world is likely heading for more than 2.4 degrees Celsius of warming by end of century. The project determined that the current wave of net-zero emission goals is not matched by action on the ground.
What are nationally determined contributions in Climate Action Tracker's framework?
Nationally determined contributions are the formal pledges each government files under the international climate framework. Climate Action Tracker assesses these pledges against modelled domestic pathways to measure the gap between what governments have promised and what the evidence says is required.
All sources
9 references cited across the entry
- 1Climate Action Tracker Data PortalClimate Analytics, Ecofys, NewClimate Institute — 29 March 2017
- 2NewsHow climate targets compare against a common baseline2021-08-07
- 5Leader: A message for the planet28 July 2021
- 6JournalPersonal carbon allowances revisitedFrancesco Fuso Nerini et al. — 2021-08-16
- 8BookGlasgow's one degree 2030 credibility gap: net zero's lip service to climate actionClaire Stockwell et al. — Climate Analytics and NewClimate Institute — 9 November 2021
- 9NewsCop26: world on track for disastrous heating of more than 2.4C, says key reportFiona Harvey — 9 November 2021
- 10NewsCop26 is creating false hope for a 1.5C rise — the stark reality is very differentBill Hare et al. — 9 November 2021