Formal local government coordination to mitigate climate change

Abstract

The effectiveness of municipal climate change mitigation policies depends partly on local governments' ability to coordinate with each other regionally. Yet coordination on climate policies beyond network participation and information sharing is rare. This study investigates how local governments can work together on climate policies, focusing on formal horizontal policy coordination. The study examines multi-government coordination to enact Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) in California, an impactful climate policy that lets local governments control energy procurement. The study surveys all multi-government CCA programs in the state, evaluating their characteristics and governance structures. Three regional areas are examined in-depth through policymaker and stakeholder interviews, media coverage, and decision-making outcomes. The study identifies several strategies for success and finds that formal horizontal policy coordination on climate mitigation can provide a path forward in multilevel governance systems for local governments to enact ambitious climate policies together.