Combined strategies against climate change

03.02.2026

Source: E & M powernews

A study conducted with the help of Munich University examined climate policy in 40 countries over a period of 32 years. This is the result.

According to scientists, effective climate protection requires a combination of different political instruments. Individual measures alone are therefore not enough to reduce CO2 emissions permanently and reliably. This is the conclusion of an international study that analyzed climate policies in 40 countries over a period of 32 years.

The study was carried out by an international research team including scientists from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) and the universities of Barcelona, Lausanne and Oslo. The results were published in the scientific journal "Climate Policy".

The study examined political measures to reduce emissions in the years from 1990 to 2022. The team analyzed a total of 1,737 individual climate protection regulations from four sectors: energy, industry, buildings and transport. The aim was to realistically assess the effectiveness of individual instruments, although in practice these are usually implemented in parallel with many other measures.

"Governments are continuously expanding their climate policy activities. This makes it increasingly difficult to clearly determine the impact of individual instruments," explains Christoph Knill, Professor of Empirical Theories of Politics at LMU and co-author of the study.

Effects of political measures often overlap

As political measures rarely work in isolation, their effects often overlap. The study therefore pursued a country-specific approach in order to work out which instruments reliably contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions in different contexts.

The analysis shows that a broad and long-term package of measures is particularly effective. Successful climate protection is therefore not based on a single "optimal" instrument, but on a coordinated combination of different approaches. These include CO2 pricing, mineral oil taxes, investments in renewable energies and government spending on research and development.

The authors cite Sweden and Norway as examples of highly effective comprehensive climate strategies. Both countries have been using a broad range of instruments for years and have achieved above-average emission reductions as a result, according to the study.

According to the study, measures that combine economic incentives with long-term structural changes have particularly robust effects. CO2 prices and levies on fossil fuels are particularly effective when they are supplemented by investments in renewable energies and research funding. This combination shows stable results across national borders.

According to the authors, the approach developed offers guidance not only for climate policy, but also for other policy areas in which a large number of parallel measures are used. The model makes it possible to better assess the actual impact of complex regulations and to base political decisions more strongly on evidence.

The article "Effective climate policies for 'all seasons': novel evidence from 40 countries" can be downloaded from the Internet.

Author: Stefan Sagmeister