Governing Climate Change in Cities: Modes of Urban Climate Governance in Multi-Level Systems

Based on the results of both existing research and recent developments in OECD countries, this study focuses on two issues: the local and the multi-level dimensions of urban climate governance. Starting from the distinction between different modes of climate governance (self-governing, governing through enabling, governing by provision and governing by authority), we discuss the relevance of these modes for both mitigation and adaptation policies. These modes are distinct in terms of their governing capacities, which range from soft forms of governing to traditional forms of state intervention. The development in many countries suggests that municipalities do not fully exploit their authoritative powers and are reluctant to apply authoritative modes of governing through regulative measures and strategic planning. Various forms of horizontal and vertical collaboration are relevant to the success of urban climate governance beyond the local scale. Horizontal collaboration comprises climate governance within metro-regions and city networking. Due to a lack of horizontal collaboration within such regions many metro-regions are characterised by a spatial mismatch. A second form of horizontal self governing, city networking at national and transnational level, has become very prominent among pioneering cities in recent years. Such networks focus on best-practice transfer, learning among their members and the representation of their members’ interests at national, European and international level. However, such networks tend to be networks of pioneers for pioneers. Vertical collaboration within nation-states includes various modes of governing, ranging from an enabling role of national governments (guidelines, awards, benchmarking, and certification schemes) to funding schemes (such as the Dutch BANS agreement and the Swedish KLIMP programme) and authoritative modes of governing. In most countries climate change policy is still a predominantly voluntary task for local authorities, and most national governments limit themselves to enabling modes of governing.

[1]  Carlo Aall,et al.  The Scope of Action for Local Climate Policy: The Case of Norway , 2007, Global Environmental Politics.

[2]  N. Toly,et al.  Transnational Municipal Networks in Climate Politics: From Global Governance to Global Politics , 2008 .

[3]  J. Caulfield.  Local Government Finance in OECD Countries , 2002 .

[4]  H. Bulkeley,et al.  Local Government and the Governing of Climate Change in Germany and the UK , 2006 .

[5]  Daniel Sperling,et al.  America's Bottom-Up Climate Change Mitigation Policy , 2008 .

[6]  Sofie Storbjörk,et al.  Governing Climate Adaptation in the Local Arena: Challenges of Risk Management and Planning in Sweden , 2007 .

[7]  K. Sperling.  Mitigating Climate Change: The Case of Local Planning in Denmark , 2008 .

[8]  Joyeeta Gupta,et al.  National efforts to enhance local climate policy in the Netherlands , 2007 .

[9]  From Kyoto to the town hall : making international and national climate policy work at the local level , 2007 .

[10]  Malte Schophaus,et al.  The diffusion of Local Agenda 21 in Germany: Comparing the German federal states , 2007 .

[11]  H. Bulkeley,et al.  Cities, Europeanization and Multi-Level Governance: Governing Climate Change Through Transnational Municipal Networks , 2009 .

[12]  S. Brody,et al.  Risk, Stress, and Capacity , 2008 .

[13]  Michele M. Betsill,et al.  Cities and the Multilevel Governance of Global Climate Change , 2006, Understanding Global Cooperation.

[14]  Katarina Eckerberg,et al.  Governance for Sustainable Development in Sweden: The Experience of the Local Investment Programme , 2007 .

[15]  A. Wood,et al.  Local Sustainable Development: Land-use Planning's Contribution to Modern Local Government , 2000 .

[16]  A. G. Kefalas,et al.  Think globally, act locally , 1998 .

[17]  Incentives and outcomes: Evaluation of a Swedish environmental subsidy programme , 2007 .

[18]  G. Lindseth.  Local level adaptation to climate change: Discursive strategies in the Norwegian context , 2005 .

[19]  M. Betsill,et al.  Transnational Networks and Global Environmental Governance: The Cities for Climate Protection Program , 2004 .

[20]  Sandra Rechlin,et al.  Kommunaler Klimaschutz in Deutschland : Handlungsoptionen, Entwicklung und Perspektiven , 2005 .

[21]  P. L. Galès,et al.  European Cities: Social Conflicts and Governance , 2002 .

[22]  J. Gupta.  The multi-level governance challenge of climate change , 2007 .

[23]  Katarina Eckerberg,et al.  In pursuit of sustainable development : New governance practices at the sub-national level in Europe , 2008 .

[24]  Michele M. Betsill,et al.  Mitigating Climate Change in US Cities: Opportunities and obstacles , 2001 .

[25]  R. Löfstedt,et al.  Think Globally, Act Locally? Local Climate Change and Energy Policies in Sweden and the UK , 1997 .

[26]  Sub-national sustainable development initiatives in federal states in Germany , 2008 .

[27]  Stuart Barr,et al.  A blueprint for the integrated assessment of climate change in cities , 2009 .

[28]  Lars Otto Naess,et al.  Institutional adaptation to climate change: Flood responses at the municipal level in Norway , 2005 .

[29]  L. Lundqvist,et al.  From Kyoto to the Town Hall: Transforming National Strategies into Local and Individual Action , 2007 .

[30]  M. Betsill,et al.  Cities and climate change , 2002 .

[31]  M. Granberg,et al.  Local Governance and Climate Change: Reflections on the Swedish Experience , 2007 .

[32]  L. Lundqvist,et al.  Whose Responsibility? Swedish Local Decision Makers and the Scale of Climate Change Abatement , 2008 .