The Climate Action Tracker

The Climate Action Tracker is an independent scientific project that tracks government climate action and measures it against the globally agreed Paris Agreement aim of "holding warming well below 2°C, and pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C." A collaboration of two organisations, Climate Analytics and NewClimate Institute, the CAT has been providing this independent analysis to policymakers since 2009.

CAT quantifies and evaluates climate change mitigation targets, policies and action. It also aggregates country action to the global level, determining likely temperature increases during the 21st century using the MAGICC climate model. CAT further develops sectoral analysis to illustrate required pathways for meeting the global temperature goals.

CAT covers all the biggest emitters and a representative sample of smaller emitters covering about 85% of global emissions and approximately 70% of global population. The national actions we track are:

• Effect of climate policies and action on emissions: The policies a government has implemented or enacted and how these are likely to affect national emission over the time period to 2030, and where possible beyond.
• Impact of pledges, targets and NDCs on national emissions over the time period to 2030, and where possible beyond.
• Comparability of effort against countries’ fair share and modelled domestic pathways: Whether a government is doing its “fair share” compared with others towards the global effort to limit warming consistent with the Paris Agreement, and whether its mitigation efforts on its own territory are in line with global least cost pathways.

The Climate Action Tracker assesses the total global effort of NDCs, pledges and current policies on:

• Global warming over the 21st century. Global emissions pathways consistent with government actions are analyzed and climate consequences projected using the carbon-cycle / climate model MAGICC.
• Emissions Gap: The gap in 2030 between the emissions levels needed to limit warming below a 2°C increase above pre-industrial levels (and to bring warming below 1.5°C by 2100) and the emissions that are projected to result from NDCs, pledges and current policies.

The Climate Action Tracker is made possible thanks to generous support from foundations and governments. These funders support or have supported different elements of CAT work:

• The Federal Government of Germany via the International Climate Initiative
• Climate Emergency Collaboration Group via Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
• ClimateWorks Foundation
• European Climate Foundation

Past consortium members have included the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (2009–2016) and Ecofys, a Navigant company (2009–2019).