Abstract
This article reviews the literature on factors and conditions shaping the development and implementation of climate policy at the city level, with a special focus in developing countries. It identifies and analyses three main sets of conditions that are critical for explaining the implementation of urban climate policy: the capacity of municipal governments, the way climate policies are linked (or not) to local issues, and the role of local political actors and factors. The article outlines that there is a tendency in the literature to fall into the ‘everything matters’ trap when analyzing policy implementation. Many reports usually conclude by making long lists of factors that are relevant for the development of local climate policy. In contrast, this review stresses the need for a more ‘configurational’ approach to the study of urban climate policy, which allows for identifying different and alternative configurations of conditions under which climate policies can be successfully advanced and implemented at city level.
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Notes
The 2014 MIT-ICLEI survey encompasses 69 questions and was answered by 350 cities around the globe that are members of ICLEI. Section VII of the survey refers to enablers of climate policy planning and implementation. The survey results are available at http://www.urbanclimatesurvey.com/ .
Buenos Aires, São Paulo and Mexico D.F. are the three central cities of the largest Latin America urban areas. All three cities have approved climate legislation and adopted specific action plan and strategies. The purpose of my research project is to analyze the factors and conditions affecting the implementation of climate policies in these three cities. I carried out field research in all three cities between September 2013 and April 2014. Currently, I am in the stage of analyzing and comparing the data collected.
Interestingly, the results of the 2014 MIT-ICLEI survey indicate that climate mitigation programs were reported to have contributed little to economic development, but made significant contribution to attain other local environmental quality and sustainability objectives (Aylett 2014, 22–27).
For a definition of party politization see Carter (2006, 748).
I am very grateful to one of the reviewers for suggesting this figure.
This analysis of the social costs and benefits of climate policy measures is based on the policy typology developed by Wilson (1995), which classifies public policies according to whether their benefits and costs are distributed widely or in a concentrated form.
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Acknowledgment
The author wished to thank the reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions. This article is an output from a research project funded by the UK Department for International Development(DFID) and the Netherlands Directorate- General for International Cooperation (DGIS), through theClimate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN). The views expressed and information contained in it are not necessarily those of or endorsed by DFID, DGIS or the entities managing CDKN, and are the sole responsibility of the author. A previous version of this article was produced as part of CDKN and ICLEI’s learning programme on climate compatible development at the subnational level.
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Ryan, D. From commitment to action: a literature review on climate policy implementation at city level. Climatic Change 131, 519–529 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-015-1402-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-015-1402-6