Do parties matter in local climate politics? An empirical analysis of the Hessian “Klima-Kommunen”

Abstract

Do parties matter for climate policy-making? This question is not only relevant because domestic efforts are essential to the global climate governance regime, but also because climate politics has often been perceived as more party politicised than environmental politics in general. In this article, we address this question at the local level, which has rarely been analysed in research on the “parties matter hypothesis”. Focussing on the State of Hessen in Germany, we first investigate whether party differences play a role in the decision of the Hessian municipalities to join the climate network “Hessen aktiv: Die Klima-Kommunen.” Second, we study whether party differences matter with regard to the preparation of mandatory action plans by the network members. Our analysis draws on an event history analysis of all Hessian municipalities from 2009 to 2020. The results tentatively suggest that the probability of membership increases with a Green Party mayor. We find no indication that the party affiliation of mayors is related to the preparation of action plans, and therefore to a more concrete climate political commitment. However, the probability of preparing an action plan increases with a stronger representation of the Greens in municipal councils. Taken together, these heterogeneous results demonstrate that partisan theory might also contribute to explaining differences in local climate policies and that the local level deserves further scholarly attention in this regard.