Urban Climate Governance
Beginn: 2022
The international community is not on track to meet sufficiently ambitious climate goals. We thus need to search for complementary approaches beyond national-level policies. Elinor Ostrom’s call for a polycentric approach to global climate policy is receiving increased attention, as researchers try to describe, analyze and seek to shape post-Paris climate governance.
Polycentric climate governance is more than theory: Subnational actors like cities or local governments are increasingly cooperating to address climate change. Several advocates and analysts look at this “urban climate governance” with increased optimism. It is unclear, though, whether it will contribute effectively to decarbonisation and climate resilience. Collective action, the fact that climate protection is a global public good, represents the main challenge for establishing a binding and effective international climate regime. Nation states have struggled with collective action. Why should thousands of cities be able to cooperate where less than two hundred nations have so far failed?
Mitarbeiter: Matteo Roggero, Eve Castille, Lydia Finzel, Konrad Bierl
Leitung Gesamtprojekt: Prof. Dr. Klaus Eisenack
Zentrale Ergebnisse:
Roggero, M., J. Fjornes and K. Eisenack (2025) „Explaining Emission Reductions in Cities: Configurations of Socioeconomic and Institutional Factors“. Earth System Governance 24 (April 2025): 100252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esg.2025.100252.
Roggero, M. (2025). Becoming Sponge City Berlin: ‘planned scaling’ vs. ‘permanent experimentation.’ Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2025.2497939
Roggero, M., Fjornes, J., & Eisenack, K. (2025). Ambitious climate targets and emission reductions in cities: A configurational analysis. Climate Policy, 25(1), 29–43. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2023.2282488
Eisenack, K. (2024). Why Local Governments Set Climate Targets: Effects of City Size and Political Costs. Environmental and Resource Economics, 87, 2935–2965. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-024-00919-1
Roggero, M., A. Gotgelf and K. Eisenack (2023) “Co-Benefits as a Rationale and Co-Benefits as a Factor for Urban Climate Action: Linking Air Quality and Emission Reductions in Moscow, Paris, and Montreal.” Climatic Change 176, 12: 179. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-023-03662-6.
Eisenack, K., and M. Roggero (2022): Many Roads to Paris: Explaining Urban Climate Action in 885 European Cities. Global Environmental Change 72: 102439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102439.
Workshop on City Typologies in preparation of the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities, February 19-21, 2024
Workshop on Urban Climate Action, November 9-11, 2022
Several Master Theses and Study Projects