Global cities and the governance of climate change: what is the role of law in cities?

• Author: Schroeder, Heike

Introduction I. Urban Climate Governance A. International Context B. Local Government and Climate Governance in the United Kingdom C. Local Government and Climate Governance in the United States II. Climate Policy and Action in London A. London's Socio-Economic and Environmental Profile B. Competencies and Powers for Climate Governance in London C. The Evolution of Climate Change Policy in London D. Climate Governance in Action III. Climate Policy and Action in Los Angeles A. Los Angeles's Socio-Economic and Environmental Profile. B. Competencies and Powers for Climate Governance in Los Angeles C. The Evolution of Climate Change Policy in Los Angeles D. Climate Governance in Action IV. Comparing London and Los Angeles: Modes of Governing and the Role of Law A. Self-Governing B. Control and Compliance C. Provision D. Enabling E. Summary Conclusion INTRODUCTION

Cities are increasingly recognized as significant producers and able managers of carbon emission. (1) They have become the predominant source of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions--perhaps as much as 70% by some accounts (2)--and places where vulnerability to climate change may be acute. For the world's major cities, climate change is therefore becoming an issue of increasing political and environmental significance. But how cities go about addressing the issue of climate change is not yet well understood. The competency and capacity of local government to address a multi-layered environmental problem such as climate change is largely determined by the legal structures within which it is embedded, but also by factors such as critical individuals, past successes, business consensus, public opinion, market opportunities, and environmental advocacy. (3)

Climate change policy at national and international levels has developed significantly over the past two decades. In 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted at the Rio Summit with countries pledging to "prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system" and to inventory and report on their greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions. (4) In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol established mandatory targets for industrialized countries to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 2008 through 2012, along with a range of economic instruments designed to assist with this goal. (5) Over the past decade, negotiations have continued as the economic instruments of the Kyoto Protocol, including the Clean Development Mechanism, Emissions Trading, and Joint Implementation, were finalized. (6) Although not all countries are on track to meet their targets under the Kyoto Protocol--and the United States remains outside of it--negotiations are now under way to develop a "post-2012" agreement. (7) To date, most analysis has focused on the role of nation-states in the design, promotion, and implementation of various "post-2012" policy architectures and instruments. A growing body of literature is pointing to the emergence of a range of non-nation state actors, such as multinational companies, carbon trading and offset organizations, and global cities, that have entered this policy arena and have developed their own initiatives and approaches to addressing this issue. (8)

This Article examines how global cities are governing climate change. Part I of this Article provides an overview of the national and international contexts of urban climate governance focusing on the United Kingdom and the United States. Parts II and III analyze London and Los Angeles, repectively, as examples of global cities. They provide a thorough examination of climate change policies and actions in these two cities, based on approximately thirty in-depth interviews with government, business and civil society representatives during 2007-08, as well as official documents and grey literature. Part IV then examines the modes of governance to understand what role law plays in urban efforts to mitigate climate change.

1. URBAN CLIMATE GOVERNANCE

   The development of an explicitly urban approach to climate change governance owes much to the emergence of transnational municipal networks focused specifically on this issue in the early 1990s. (9) Since the early-2000s, these networks have evolved to become both more comprehensive and more politically significant, particularly with the development of the C40 network of global cities. (10) They have provided municipalities with inspiration, concrete projects, access to funding, examples of best practices, and informal structures of recognition and reward which have led to a significant response from municipalities worldwide. (11)

   1. International Context

      In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a number of cities, primarily in North America and Europe, began to adopt targets and timetables for reducing their emissions of GHGs. (12) These efforts became organized internationally through the formation of three transnational municipal networks: Cities for Climate Protection ("CCP"), (13) Climate Alliance, (14) and Energie-Cites. (15) CCP was formed in 1992 as an initiative of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives ("ICLEI"). ICLEI first became involved with municipal climate policy through the Urban C[O.sub.2] Reduction Project, (16) which ran from 1991 to 1993 and was funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the City of Toronto, and several private foundations. (17) Municipal membership of the CCP network initially reflected these origins with a concentration of members from North America and Europe, but has since expanded with specific campaigns in Australia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the United States. (18) CCP members pledge to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases by between 10-20% from 1990 levels by 2010; member cities are now thought to account for 15% of world urban emissions. (19) The Climate Alliance has 1,100 members in seventeen European countries, with the aim to reduce emissions to 50% below 1990 levels by 2030. The network is based in Frankfurt am Main and most of its members are located in continental Europe (Germany, Austria and the Netherlands). (20) Energie-Cites stemmed from a project funded by the EU Commission and is a somewhat different network, with an explicit focus on local energy policy in which addressing climate change is only one factor. Founded in 1990 and based in France, it now has over 160 individual members in twenty-five European countries, with a concentration in francophone nations. (21)

      During the 1990s and early 2000s, urban governance on climate change was primarily orchestrated through these three networks. In the mid-2000s, a new wave of transnational municipal networks emerged. The first of these was the 2005 United States Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, (22) in which cities pledged "to meet or beat the Kyoto Protocol targets in their own communities." (23) ICLEI has since supported the development of the World Mayors Council on Climate Change with the explicit purpose "to politically promote climate protection policies at the local level." (24) In the case of the global cities discussed this Article, the emergence of the C40 network has been a critical development. (25) This network was promoted by the Mayor of London and The Climate Group and formed by eighteen cities in 2005 as a parallel initiative to the Group of Eight ("G8") Gleneagles summit on climate change. (26) In 2006, the C40 network entered into a partnership with the Clinton Climate Initiative and expanded its membership to include forty of the largest cities in the world and changed its name to the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. (27)

      In December 2007, local government representatives met in Bali, Indonesia during COP-13 to convene a two-day conference during which they adopted a World Mayors and Local Governments Climate Protection Agreement. (28) The agreement is loosely modeled on the United States Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement and sets forth six commitments that are more explicit than those upon which country delegates were able to agree in the international negotiations. The first commitment calls on local governments to "REDUCE greenhouse gas emissions immediately and significantly. Measure and report on annual reductions of greenhouse gas emissions and constantly work to increase reductions such that by 2050 greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced worldwide by 60% from 1990 levels and by 80% from 1990 levels in industrialized countries." (29) ICLEI also sent a delegation larger than any single country and second only to the delegation representing trade interests under the International Emissions Trading Association. (30)

      As this brief history suggests, there is a growing movement internationally for urban responses to climate change. These networks have provided municipalities with inspiration, concrete projects, access to funding, examples of best practices, and informal structures of recognition and reward which have led to a significant response from municipalities worldwide. (31) The extent to which municipal governments are able to address climate change, however, also depends on their competencies in this area, and it is to the role of local government in climate governance in the United Kingdom and the United States that we now turn.

   2. Local Government and Climate Governance in the United Kingdom

      In the United Kingdom, the relationship between central government and local authorities is governed by the legal principle of ultra vires: "local councils have been able to do only what they are statutorily permitted to do. Their rights and competences are not general, but specific." (32) "The statutory duties set by central government can be compulsory ... dictating the activities local authorities must undertake, or discretionary, allowing for flexibility in the priority given to different measures and...