Domestic Climate Laws on the Rise, a Boost for Pending UN Action

An explosion in the number of laws passed around the world aimed at confronting climate change in the last 20 years was hailed on Thursday as a step toward building support for a United Nations climate treaty to be negotiated in 2015.

Countries that together account for most global greenhouse gas emissions have passed nearly 500 laws since the Kyoto Protocol climate treaty was signed in 1992, with emerging economies leading many of the recent efforts, according to a report released by the Global Legislators Organisation (GLOBE) and the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics.

Prior to the treaty, fewer than 40 laws addressing climate were on the books.

Domestic Climate Laws on the Rise, a Boost for Pending UN Action