What explains ambitious climate policy? Comparing updated climate targets and Covid-19 recovery packages and their drivers

在COVID-19大流行期间，许多国家更新了其国家气候目标或国家自主贡献（NDC）。 与此同时，这些国家推出了庞大的COVID-19经济复苏计划和财政改革，可能会加强或破坏现有的碳密集型经济体系。本项目将研究各国国家数据中心所示的长期气候目标和通过流行病恢复支出计划实施的短期气候政策如何相互影响，以及为什么一些国家在气候政策实施方面领先，而另一些国家则落后。 这项研究是在收集和分析几个国家的大型数据集的基础上进行的。 这项研究将由几个国家的研究小组进行，将有助于为决策者和国际金融机构确定如何促进和落实气候变化政策目标的机会。 除了有助于了解气候政策执行的跨国差异，这项研究的结果将提供投入，制定有效和创新的气候政策在美国。本研究项目将研究两个相互关联的问题。 首先，它研究了NDC更新中所载的长期国家气候雄心与COVID-19复苏一揽子计划中的短期实施计划以及财政改革之间的联系。其次，它调查了各国在这些类型的政策干预中气候雄心和执行能力差异的政治和经济驱动因素。为此，该项目整合了政治学和经济学，重点关注政策反馈和融资条件在推动气候雄心和气候政策干预方面的作用。在混合方法设计中，该项目将描述性统计分析与三项分析任务中的定性比较案例研究相结合。该项目的智力价值在于确定长期气候目标和计划（NDC）与短期实施（经济复苏支出）之间关系的模式，以及这种关系中跨国差异的原因。这项研究的结果将为美国制定有效和创新的气候政策提供投入。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Many countries updated their national climate targets or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, these countries introduced vast COVID-19 economic recovery packages and fiscal reforms that may either serve to strengthen or upset existing carbon-intensive economic systems. This project will study how long-term climate goals, as indicated in countries’ NDCs, and short-term implementation of climate policies through pandemic recovery spending plans affect each other and why some countries lead in climate policy implementation, while others lag. The study is based on the collection of and analyses of large data sets across several countries. This study, to be carried out by research teams from several countries, will help identify opportunities for policymakers and international financial institutions on how to promote and implement climate change policy ambitions. In addition to helping to understand cross country differences in climate policy implementation, the results of this research will provide inputs into formulating efficient and innovative climate policies in the US.This research project will study two inter-related issues. First, it studies the links between long-term national climate ambitions enshrined in NDC updates and short-term implementation plans embedded in COVID-19 recovery packages, and fiscal reform. Second, it investigates the political and economic drivers underlying differences in climate ambitions and implementation abilities in these types of policy intervention across countries. To do so, the project integrates political science and economics, focusing on the role of policy feedback and financing conditions in driving climate ambition and climate policy interventions. In a mixed-methods design, the project combines descriptive statistical analyses with qualitative comparative case studies in the three analytical tasks. The intellectual merit of this project lies in identifying patterns in the relationship of long-term climate targets and plans (NDCs) and short-term implementation (economic recovery spending) as well as the causes of cross-national variation in this relationship. The results of this research will provide inputs into formulating efficient and innovative climate policies in the US.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.