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Climate Change in Cities pp 39–57Cite as

Innovations in European Climate Governance and Their Impact on Local Climate Policy: An Analysis of German Major Cities

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Part of the book series: The Urban Book Series ((UBS))

Abstract

Cities and urban regions are not only the main originators of global climate change but particularly places where innovations towards a low carbon transition take place. Notably in the European context, local climate change policies are embedded in a dense structure of multilevel governance arrangements. On the level of the European Union, various instruments address climate change. With regard to climate change mitigation, policies usually are part of general long-term strategies, like the Climate and Energy Package of 2008 and its successor, the Climate and Energy Framework of 2014. This chapter concentrates on two facets of multilevel governance: first, the involvement of cities in vertical climate governance and second, their participation in horizontal structures of climate governance. The European Commission became an actor in this arena not only by setting up funding schemes but also by the founding of the Covenant of Mayors. The main research question of the chapter is: Does the inclusion of cities in multilevel governance structures and particularly the Covenant of Mayors have an impact on local climate policy? While vertical and horizontal activities show both a significant influence on the scope of local climate policy, membership in the Covenant seems to be rather an add-on for cities that are already active in climate change mitigation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Data presented in this chapter is drawn from joint research of the author and his colleagues Anne Tews, Michèle Knodt, and Arthur Benz. The research (Überlokales Handeln und lokale Innovationen im Klimawandel. Eine vergleichende Analyse deutscher Großstädte/ Trans-local action and local innovations in the context of climate change. A comparative analysis of German major cities) has been funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft/ German Research Foundation DFG.

  2. 2.

    See http://covenantofmayors.eu/about/covenant-of-mayors_en.html as of December 31, 2016.

  3. 3.

    See Kemmerzell (2016) for a more comprehensive account of the mechanisms of trans-local action.

  4. 4.

    It is important to underline that climate protection is a widely non-obligatory municipal task in Germany lacking hierarchical elements.

  5. 5.

    Twenty-nine cities are full members of the CoM, one city joined Mayors Adapt only. In the whole population of 85 major cities, 33 are currently associated with the CoM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Politikwissenschaft, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Dolivostraße 15, 64293, Darmstadt, Germany

    Jörg Kemmerzell

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  1. Jörg Kemmerzell
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Correspondence to Jörg Kemmerzell .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Sara Hughes

  2. School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, The Netherlands

    Eric K. Chu

  3. School of Public Service, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho, USA

    Susan G. Mason

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Kemmerzell, J. (2018). Innovations in European Climate Governance and Their Impact on Local Climate Policy: An Analysis of German Major Cities. In: Hughes, S., Chu, E., Mason, S. (eds) Climate Change in Cities. The Urban Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65003-6_3

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