Local Governments Taking on Climate Change: Situating City Actions in the Global Climate Regime

Abstract

Given the current political environment in the US, there is great doubt about the future of American policy on climate change. Still, the optimistic future of American climate policy relies on the new group of leaders that have emerged from municipal government. Although local government is traditionally ignored in favor of the publicity of international negotiations between countries, cities have established a role at the forefront of climate policy over the past ten years. These local governments serve half of the world’s population and often are extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, making their contributions more important than ever. Although they face a unique set of difficulties, cities are able to take a range of actions impossible at higher levels of government, reaching communities in unprecedented ways and innovating new policies. This project aims to analyze how local governments fit into the global political regime on climate change, testing the theoretical framework of multilevel governance against reallife examples in Boston and New York City. Further, this paper finds that cities compensate for their relatively small size and limited jurisdiction through a unique set of actions and collaborative relationships, enabling these local actors to become international leaders on this complex global issue..