Climate neutrality: governance structures in urban areas

The article explores how European cities intend adjusting governance for climate action, emphasizing inclusive policies. It stresses targeted training in climate financing and planning. The importance of simplified methods for monitoring emissions, which rely on robust data collection and cooperation among stakeholders, was also emphasized.

How is knowledge on impacts and adaptation used at territorial level?
Analysis of a new dataset, which gathered responses from local authorities responsible for implementing climate policies, reveals the important role of knowledge creation, sharing, and usage in climate governance.

Researchers surveyed several cities about their data collection methods supporting climate policies and strategies. The findings highlight the importance placed on monitoring mechanisms, specialised teams, and data analysis tools such as observatories and websites. 

Over 80 % of the 348 respondent cities reported partnership in data collection with national and regional governments and academic institutions. Furthermore, cities increasingly recognise the vital role of engaging with a diverse array of stakeholders: more than 70 % of the cities indicated they collaborated with academic and research & innovation (R&I) institutions, second only to regional government (80%) and citizens (81%). This reflects a recognition of citizens as influential agents capable of driving transformative change. Consequently, cities are incorporating citizens and other stakeholders into decision-making processes by establishing climate or innovation platforms, committees, or advisory bodies within their governance structures. Notably, cities prioritise enhanced stakeholder engagement as the primary desired change for the future.

Staff and capacity building emerged as significant areas of focus. Cities emphasised the importance of allocating more staff to initiatives addressing climate change challenges - such as developing climate neutrality action plans. Additionally, there is a recognised need for capacity building, particularly in terms of knowledge and skills related to climate finance, investment planning, and cross-sectoral expertise (See Fig.1).

Useful insights for the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change 
The research, based on data from the European Commission's Expression of Interest survey for the 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission, offers insights into how nearly 400 European cities foresee adjusting their climate governance structures to tackle climate challenges.  
It highlights cities' readiness to adapt and enhance their governance strategies to pursue more ambitious climate action. Issues like institutionalising climate change, implementing participatory governance or involving citizens and stakeholders in decision-making processes are considered of primary importance.  
At the same time, new vertical and horizontal multilevel governance structures are challenging to implement. Conflicting interests, divergent visions, unequal power distribution among stakeholders, limited resources, and asymmetry of information are some of the reasons why.  
Climate finance remains a persistent obstacle too, limiting climate-related projects due to budget constraints and unattractive returns for external investors. The research underscores the critical role of foresight, adaptable governance, and resilience mechanisms.  

From science to policy: key take-away messages 
- Cities are reflecting on governance structures reforms to face climate challenges and enable increased climate ambition. Desired modifications aim at involving a variety of stakeholders in climate action, emphasising the importance of inclusive policy design.      
- There is an urgent call for targeted capacity building activities in crucial areas like climate finance and cross-sector planning, as cities identify these as significant shortcomings.      
- Implementing streamlined and standardised methods for greenhouse gas emissions inventory, monitoring, and reporting is urgent for climate governance strategies. However, successful monitoring requires robust data collection mechanisms and close collaboration among different stakeholders. 

Reference: Shtjefni, D., Ulpiani, G., Vetters, N., Koukoufikis, G. and Bertoldi, P., Governing climate neutrality transitions at the urban level: A European perspective, CITIES, ISSN 0264-2751, 148, 2024, p. 104883, JRC134588.