Parliamentarians play a crucial role in shaping, executing, and overseeing their nation's climate goals. Within the context of oversight, parliaments possess numerous avenues through which they can oversee their country’s climate commitments, through inquiries to assess potential gaps and impacts of climate legislation and policies on the population; interpellations (question time) calling on ministers to provide information on climate matters; budget formulation, approval and conducting oversight on spending; public hearings; reports; motions and through post-legislative scrutiny (PLS).

PLS is regarded as one of the most effective processes for assessing the impact of legislation. While laws sometimes include provisions relating to parliamentary oversight after enactment, most laws lack detail on the process and resources by which scrutiny is to be ensured. PLS involves the process of parliaments overseeing the execution and assessing the effectiveness of legislation since its coming into force, with the objective of confirming whether laws function and are having the impact that policymakers intended.

The year 2023, at COP28, marked the conclusion of the very first global stocktake (GST) of action on climate change, an exercise that takes place every five years. It was designed to assess the collective global response to the climate emergency, by measuring the steps taken to achieve the various climate goals in pursuit of the overarching goal of the Paris Agreement to keep the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

The GST is meant to assess the trajectory of global climate commitments and whether these are ambitious enough to ensure that the Paris Agreement goals are within reach. Parliamentary scrutiny of NDCs, in which governments commit to reducing their emissions, is becoming increasingly urgent to ensure governments live up to their promises, and to promote further ambition as the planet heats up. It has been noted that “[e]arly lessons on the challenges of NDC implementation are emerging. NDCs will not succeed without the right level of integration with national development policy and planning. Without clear financing plans, strong and enforceable requirements for Measuring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) and a high degree of political commitment, they will fail.”

The GST is an inventory on where the world stands on climate action and support, identifying the gaps and charting pathways for meaningful acceleration of the climate action agenda. Parliaments have a critical role to play in ensuring that the GST’s political commitments are not merely given lip service. It is up to decision makers nationally to ensure that there is follow through on the outcomes and calls to action of the GST. Particularly as 2025 marks the due date for updated NDCs. 

This policy paper looks at how the role of parliaments in enhancing climate and environmental outcomes may be influenced by a range of factors that may either stall or halt the imperative for legislative review and adaptation. Nationally, the drive to pass legislation and more specifically, climate change legislation, is often driven by political will rooted in factors ranging from election cycles, the levels of democracy, and a country’s economic priorities. 

The outcomes of the IPU meeting at COP28 encouraged parliaments to “establish mechanisms for continuous, forward-looking and evidence-informed monitoring and reporting on the progress of climate-related legislation and policies, ensuring transparency and accountability in the implementation of climate commitments”. Relatedly, in the pursuit of global climate goals, there is a need to avoid a narrow focus on international treaties as the sole solution. Rather, a programme of global collective action that includes a review of domestic laws to pursue climate goals should be embraced.

To this end, this policy paper recommends that:

Parliaments worldwide are best placed to prioritise the alignment of climate change legislation with the goals outlined in the Paris Agreement by conducting PLS of existing climate and environmental legislation. This alignment is crucial for ensuring that national laws and policies contribute to limiting global warming to below 2°C and preferably, to 1.5°C. To achieve this, parliaments must strengthen existing climate change laws to support ambitious emissions reduction targets and comprehensive strategies for climate resilience. These laws should be informed by the commitments and the review process of revised NDCs, due in 2025.

To reflect the most recent scientific findings and industry best practices in climate and environmental policy making, PLS must be data and evidence driven. Therefore, the collaboration between legislators themselves (cross party), legislators and the executive, legislators and CSOs, legislators and the public, and legislators and international climate organisations must be strengthened.  This will ensure access to broader data sources, the adequate allocation of resources for climate commitments to be implemented and accelerate progress towards achieving the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

The process of conducting PLS traditionally focuses on national climate considerations, yet this paper advocates for expanding its scope to incorporate insights from international engagement, facilitating cross-learning. International platforms for parliamentary dialogue not only provide opportunities for policymakers to demonstrate leadership in climate and environmental legislation but also serve as catalysts for collaborative action. Integrating PLS into the GST process is essential to ensure that legislators evaluate the effectiveness of climate legislation through the establishment of a thematic CoP-PLS of climate change and environmental legislation. This would enhance parliamentary capacities and their external networks, supporting MPs and committees in conducting effective PLS.