The Oxford Martin Programme on Climate Policy and the Oxford Climate Policy Hub are building the most detailed and up-to-date cross-country picture yet of climate-related regulation across 37 major countries, helping governments, regulators and businesses turn net zero pledges into concrete, enforceable rules that support the global net zero transition.
The Challenge
Under the Paris Agreement, governments have committed to limiting global temperature rise to well below 2°C based on pre-industrial levels. Countries that have adopted net zero targets collectively account for around 88% of global emissions, 92% of global GDP and 89% of the world’s population. Yet the rules needed to deliver these targets remain fragmented, contested and incomplete. Governments are taking very different approaches to net zero, through financial disclosure and risk management requirements, carbon markets, procurement rules, competition law and what claims companies can make in marketing materials, alongside a patchwork of voluntary measures. This can leave gaps, overlaps and confusion, and makes it hard to assess whether today’s rules are sufficient to deliver tomorrow’s targets. As co-lead Professor Thomas Hale explains:
“Nations and companies have made ambitious climate pledges, but to prevent catastrophic climate change what matters is concrete, implemented, enforceable rules”.
“Nations and companies have made ambitious climate pledges, but to prevent catastrophic climate change what matters is concrete, implemented, enforceable rules”.
The Impact
The Oxford Climate Policy Monitor, a flagship output of the Oxford Martin Programme on Climate Policy and the Oxford Climate Policy Hub, is addressing this challenge by providing a granular survey of climate-related laws and regulations across 37 major countries, with its latest report launched at COP30 in the Amazon. This analysis offers the most detailed and up-to-date view yet of how climate policies in these jurisdictions are aligning, or not, with net zero goals in a period of intense political contestation. As co-lead Professor Thom Wetzer notes:
“In this climate of contestation climate policy is fragmenting, but even in that fragmented landscape the global direction of travel remains clear and points to transition: the vast majority of nations continue to create and strengthen climate rules in the policy areas we surveyed”.
The Climate Policy Monitor is:
• Offering a detailed cross-country picture of climate-related laws and regulations across 37 major economies.
• Tracking more than 200 new climate-related rules introduced since 2024 and showing where policies are strengthening or weakening.
• Demonstrating that, despite political contestation and rollbacks in some regions, the overall direction of travel remains towards tighter climate regulation and transition.
• Showing that emerging economies, especially in Africa and Latin America, are increasingly setting the pace on climate policy and disclosure.
• Identifying frontrunners on carbon credits and how carbon markets are being used to raise climate finance while safeguarding social and environmental integrity.
• Pinpointing major gaps on methane and other high-impact areas, helping regulators see where action is most urgent.
What's Next?
The Climate Policy Monitor is a public resource that will continue to evolve, with an expanding dataset and plans to cover further policy domains and jurisdictions. Its rich data show specific areas where regulators can strengthen and align economic rules to create a level playing field and an enabling environment for achieving net zero. As Dr Thom Wetzer concludes:
“Governments need to adopt better climate rules, faster, to align climate policies with the latest science.“
About the Oxford Climate Policy Hub and partners:
The Climate Policy Monitor is one of the outputs of the Oxford Climate Policy Hub, a research initiative based at the University of Oxford. It aims to build the evidence base and the capacity to advance net zero regulation and policy that is effective, rigorous and equitable. It is a collaboration between Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government and the Oxford Sustainable Law Programme (the latter is a joint initiative of the Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment and Oxford's Law Faculty). It is part of the Oxford Net Zero strategic cluster. It was launched in October 2023 as a direct output of the Oxford Martin Programme on Climate Policy. It is also supported by the EU Horizon ACHIEVE Project.
