Greenhouse gas emissions need to decrease substantially to hold global average temperature increase below 2°C warming above the preindustrial level in 2100. This requires emission reductions by all major emitting countries with developed countries taking the lead, but emerging economies are of increasing importance in this global effort.
The report Climate Change Mitigation in Emerging Economies: From Potentials to Actions provides an overview of current activities regarding climate change mitigation in six emerging economies: Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea. It covers the institutional setup, measurement, reporting and verification systems for greenhouse gases and mitigation policies and measures. The analysis also addresses existing barriers to mitigation and considers where the international community could provide support to remove these.
The report finds that all analysed countries have significantly improved their climate change institutions and MRV systems over the past few years and have created mostly coherent frameworks for climate strategies and policies. Creating additional capacities on national and sub-national government levels and in the private sector as well as raising awareness among the population will be essential in the coming years to enable further improvements and enable those countries to reduce emissions further.