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Climate Action Tracker: Who Grades Countries’ Emission Pledges

No government body grades whether countries’ climate pledges add up to a safe planet. That job belongs to two independent research institutes instead.

A wind farm in Kanyakumari, India. National renewable-energy progress like this is exactly what the Climate Action Tracker measures against countries’ own pledges. Photo by Roshan Gracious, via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed CC BY 4.0.

📑 Contents

1Must Know
2Good to Know
3Test Yourself
4Great to Know
5Previous Year Questions

Grading Nations’ Climate Promises

EnvEco0103

2 Institutes

Climate Analytics and NewClimate Institute run it, not a UN body

2009

Year it began providing independent analysis to policymakers

Countries tracked, covering roughly 80% of global emissions

1.5°C

The Paris Agreement warming limit pledges are measured against

The pattern: holding countries accountable to their own climate pledges is independent, scientific work, not a formal UN function.

🏛️ Must Know

What the Climate Action Tracker Is

Not a UN Body The Climate Action Tracker is a database created by a coalition of research organizations. It is not a UN agency, an IPCC wing, or a UNFCCC committee.
Its Two Founders It’s produced by Climate Analytics and the NewClimate Institute, two independent, non-profit research institutes based in Germany.
What It Measures It tracks government climate pledges and policies. It checks them against the Paris Agreement’s goal of holding warming well below 2 degrees Celsius.
Its Coverage It tracks 32 countries, covering roughly 80 percent of global emissions, including every major emitter.

Good to Know

📘 Good to Know

How the Tracker Actually Works

Aggregating to a Global Number It aggregates each country’s action up to a global level. It then estimates the likely 21st-century temperature rise using a climate model called MAGICC.
A Rating System Countries get rated on categories like “1.5°C compatible” or “insufficient,” based on how their pledges compare to their fair share of global effort.
Since 2009 The Tracker has provided this independent analysis to policymakers since 2009, well before the Paris Agreement itself existed.

📝 Previous Year Questions

UPSC CSP 2022 — What the Climate Action Tracker Is

UPSC 2022 The Climate Action Tracker is a database created by a coalition of research organizations, not a UN or World Bank agency. See UPSC CSP 2022 GS Paper I, Q41. View this question.

Test Yourself

Great to Know

🌟 Great to Know

Why Independent Tracking Matters

A Check on Self-Reporting Countries submit their own climate pledges under the Paris Agreement. Independent trackers like this one check whether those pledges actually add up.
Widely Cited Journalists, negotiators, and other researchers widely cite the Tracker’s ratings at climate summits like the annual COP conferences.
Similar Tools Exist Other independent metrics, like the Common Carbon Metric for buildings, follow the same broader pattern: standardized, non-governmental climate accountability tools.

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