Trans-local action and local climate policy. Configurations of success for climate innovations in the European multilevel system

Abstract

Local climate policy in Germany is embedded in a complex and dense multilevel system. While higher levels of governance confront cities with legal frameworks and regulations, they are not constrained to mere implementation of requirements from the national or supranational levels. Cities can influence and make strategic use of opportunities stemming from the multilevel structure to introduce innovative climate policy measures as best practices. Within a multilevel structure, they can engage in trans-local action and become actors in various processes of upscaling. In this paper, we analyze the configurations of success for local climate innovations. We focus on the impact of cities' trans-local and strategic activities within the European multilevel system in conjunction with city-specific context conditions. The research is based on a concept-structural framework that combines trans-local activities and internal context conditions in a way that accounts for interactions between the two spheres. A comparison of the German cities of Darmstadt, Hagen, Offenbach, and Oldenburg indicates that configurations of strategic action in the multilevel system and beneficial local conditions explain the adoption of climate innovations. Therefore, such trans-local action should not be understood as a sufficient condition of innovative climate policy measures, but as an enabling factor embedded in local contexts.