Environmental Policy vs. the Reality of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Top Emitting Countries

Portillo Juan, Nerea; Negro Valdecantos, Vicente; Olalde Rodríguez, Javier; Iglesias, Gregorio

doi:10.3390/en17225705

Open AccessReview

Environmental Policy vs. the Reality of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Top Emitting Countries

by

Nerea Portillo Juan

^1,*

,

Vicente Negro Valdecantos

^1,*,

Javier Olalde Rodríguez

¹

and

Gregorio Iglesias

²

¹

Environment, Coast and Ocean Research Laboratory, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Campus Ciudad Universitaria, Calle del Profesor Aranguren 3, 28040 Madrid, Spain

²

Civil Engineering Department, University College Cork, College Road, T12 K8AF Cork, Ireland

^*

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Energies 2024, 17(22), 5705; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17225705

Submission received: 10 October 2024 / Revised: 5 November 2024 / Accepted: 12 November 2024 / Published: 14 November 2024

(This article belongs to the Collection Feature Papers in Energy, Environment and Well-Being)

Download

Browse Figures

Versions Notes

Abstract

The 21st century climate crisis has been compounded by the COVID-19 health crisis and the Russian war. What at first appeared to be an opportunity to move towards sustainable growth and development has turned into the opposite. In this context, it seems necessary to pause and analyze what countries are doing and where they are heading in order to ensure that their environmental efforts are not in vain. This article analyzes the environmental policies of the seven countries emitting the most GHGs from 1990 to the present day and compares them with the reality of their emissions. These behaviors are extrapolated into the future and, finally, conclusions are drawn as to which countries are not fully living up to their commitments, which have implemented the most effective measures, and where particular attention needs to be directed for maximum efficiency in decarbonizing the energy mix.

Keywords: climate change; environmental policy; GHG emissions; country analysis; climate crisis; energy mix; decarbonization; fossil fuels; renewable energy

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Portillo Juan, N.; Negro Valdecantos, V.; Olalde Rodríguez, J.; Iglesias, G. Environmental Policy vs. the Reality of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Top Emitting Countries. Energies 2024, 17, 5705. https://doi.org/10.3390/en17225705

AMA Style

Portillo Juan N, Negro Valdecantos V, Olalde Rodríguez J, Iglesias G. Environmental Policy vs. the Reality of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Top Emitting Countries. Energies. 2024; 17(22):5705. https://doi.org/10.3390/en17225705

Chicago/Turabian Style

Portillo Juan, Nerea, Vicente Negro Valdecantos, Javier Olalde Rodríguez, and Gregorio Iglesias. 2024. "Environmental Policy vs. the Reality of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Top Emitting Countries" Energies 17, no. 22: 5705. https://doi.org/10.3390/en17225705

APA Style

Portillo Juan, N., Negro Valdecantos, V., Olalde Rodríguez, J., & Iglesias, G. (2024). Environmental Policy vs. the Reality of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Top Emitting Countries. Energies, 17(22), 5705. https://doi.org/10.3390/en17225705

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Menu

Environmental Policy vs. the Reality of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Top Emitting Countries

Abstract

Share and Cite

Article Metrics

Article Access Statistics

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI