Abstract
City climate change networks complicate common narratives about the local role in environmental and climate change governance in the United States. These networks—organizations with three or more member cities or representative city staff that share information and resources—are crucial actors in supporting the increasing interest in local climate change mitigation. Building upon prior scholarship addressing mayor-led networks and municipal collaborations, this Article considers how city climate networks challenge notions of local parochialism and rebut some critiques of local climate action. The Article also evaluates the growing importance of these networks in light of changes in federal climate policy, including the Inflation Reduction Act and recent Trump Administration efforts to undermine climate change mitigation efforts.
Drawing on interviews with over fifty sustainability directors and key staff members of climate change networks, this Article argues that networks must be understood as a critical component of U.S. climate governance and that their work undermines critiques of local climate leadership. After exploring common narratives of local parochialism and powerlessness as well as the academic debates over local climate action, the Article describes city climate networks and how these groups add further nuance to assessments of local power and local mitigation efforts. These groups suggest that many of the concerns about piecemeal local climate action are overblown, particularly in a new era of federal retreat on climate change mitigation efforts.
Included in
Administrative Law Commons, Environmental Law Commons, Law and Society Commons, State and Local Government Law Commons
