In the name of “low-carbon cities”: National rhetoric, local leverage, and divergent exploitation of the greening of urban governance in China

Abstract

ABSTRACT The imaginary significance of cities to address the climate change crisis seems to have no ceiling. But the outcomes of urban climate governance have fallen short of the high promise placed on cities to contribute climate solutions. This research examines the widely observed gap between the highly expected role of cities in climate control and the disappointing reality from a perspective of the environmental state. Through a comparative study of two low-carbon city (LCC) experiments in Shenzhen and Huizhou, as well as an analysis of nation-wide administrative legal disputes related to decarbonization issues, this paper identifies an interesting legitimacy space created and manipulated locally along with the emergence of a carbon-focused environmental nation-state. Four rationales, namely carbon re-regulation, carbon formalization, carbon rationalization, and carbon exceptionalism, are identified underpinning different urban actors’ articulation and leverage of the national priority of decarbonization to advance their respective agendas. Success or failure of urban climate experiments is found to be contingent upon the effective management and mediation of different rationales, giving rise to a distinctive process of “localizing the low-carbon state.” The findings of this research shed light on the multifaceted effects of the greening state on the urban politics of climate change.