The world can take a major step towards meeting the goals of the Paris Climate Accord by focusing on 63 climate policies identified by the University of Oxford as being the most effective, researchers say.

A study led by Climate Econometrics at the University of Oxford and other international institutes analysed 1,500 policies from a climate policy database.

It is the first time a global dataset of policies has been compared in such a way, but it resulted in only 63 successful policies being identified.

The country by country analysis showed the UK has made very successful progress in the electricity sector.

However, the study did not find major emission reductions following a policy intervention beyond what would be expected based on long-term economic and population dynamics in any other UK sectors.

The study was led by Climate Econometricians at the University of OxfordThe study was led by Climate Econometricians at the University of Oxford (Image: Ben Seymour via UnSplash)

Dr Moritz Schwarz, a co-author on the study and an associate at the Climate Econometrics Programme at Oxford, said: "Our results inform contentious policy debates in three main ways.

"First, we show evidence for the effectiveness of policy mixes.

"Second, our findings highlight that successful policy mixes vary across sectors and that policymakers should focus on sector-specific best practices.

"Third, our results stress that effective policies vary with economic development."

The study showed across four sectors, 41 countries and two decades, only 63 successful policy interventions with large effects were identified, which reduced total emissions between 0.6 and 1.8 gigatonnes of CO2.

The researchers have made the data available to policy-makers across the world, and have produced a sector by sector, country by country data visualisation.

They said policymakers can learn from the 63 effective cases to get back on track.

They found climate policies are more effective when combined with other policies, such as carbon pricing with subsidies.

Additionally, developed and developing countries require different climate policies.

For example, carbon pricing is particularly effective in developed countries, but regulation is preferable for developing ones.

The study also suggests if the 63 successful policy areas are implemented more widely, it could reduce the current emissions gap to meeting the Paris Targets by between 26 per cent and 41 per cent.

Professor Felix Pretis, study co-author and co-director of the Climate Econometrics Programme at Oxford, said: "Scaling up good practice policies identified in this study to other sectors and other parts of the world can, in the short term, be a powerful climate mitigation strategy.

"The dashboard that we make available to policymakers provides an accessible platform to conduct country-by-country, sector-by-sector comparisons and to find a suitable policy mix for different situations."