Laws and regulation dealing with greenhouse gas emission or other activities that have an impact on the climate.
Climate legislation normally refers to laws and regulation on the national and provincial level. International agreements, like the Kyoto Protocol, are not usually referred to as climate legislation. The climate legislation in some countries goes much further than demanded by the international agreements.
While international agreements focus on quotas and trade strategies, provincial and state legislation tends to supplement these market strategies with industry performance standards and programs targeted to local circumstances. National legislature also sometimes use carbon taxes as a way to reduce the use of fossil fuel.
Because national legislature is less dependent on consensus from many countries, provincial and state governments have quickly become leading players in climate policy. Climate legislation is being introduced in many countries around the world.
An example of regional climate legislation is EU-regulations for the car-manufacturing industry. EU demands that car-makers produce cars that do not emit too much carbon dioxide.
An example of national climate legislation is the Climate Change Act. It became law in the United Kingdom on the 26th of November, 2008. The Climate Change Act makes it the duty of the Secretary of State to ensure that the carbon emission from greenhouse gases for the year 2050 is at least 80 percent lower than the 1990 baseline.