Clim. Policy http://doi.org/2px (2015)
There are now more than 500 climate change laws across 66 jurisdictions. Prior to leaders signing the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, the world's only binding climate treaty, there were fewer than 40.
Samuel Fankhauser, from the London School of Economics, UK, and colleagues assess whether global climate deals are the cause of such proliferation. They find that treaties catalyse legislation in the limited number of countries bound by them, but don't have much impact in other jurisdictions.
A more persuasive explanation for the legislative boom is that governments react to other countries passing laws, creating a sort of domino effect. This seems to override any temptation for countries to take advantage of the efforts of others. The international negotiation process also has a surprising side-effect: countries hosting major climate conferences are galvanized into passing climate laws. Such findings suggest that it is unwise to fixate on formal international commitments as an indication of a country's commitment to tackling climate change.
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Hope, M. Domino effect. Nature Clim Change 5, 300 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2600
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2600
