Local and Regional Governance

Each stage of the local policy-making process presents an opportunity to incorporate climate change priorities, agenda setting, policy design, implementation and policy evaluation. Chapter 7 discusses these opportunities and the issues for horizontal co-ordination that they raise. Co-ordination across city departments as well as across municipalities in the same metropolitan region is needed to implement climate policies in a cross-sectoral manner. Co-ordination among cities and surrounding municipalities is especially crucial given that many urban initiatives to mitigate and adapt to climate change require changes that are broader than just one city’s jurisdiction. While some municipal governments have led the way to co-ordinate climate change action at the metropolitan regional level, greater incentives and more effective co-ordination mechanisms are needed. Regional initiatives can have a broader impact on climate priorities given their scale and potentially greater access to funding and technical expertise.