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Research priorities for supporting subnational climate policies
Author(s) -
Klemun Magdalena M.,
Edwards Morgan R.,
Trancik Jessika E.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
wiley interdisciplinary reviews: climate change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.678
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1757-7799
pISSN - 1757-7780
DOI - 10.1002/wcc.646
Subject(s) - climate governance , corporate governance , climate change , climate change mitigation , business , local government , climate policy , government (linguistics) , greenhouse gas , climate finance , environmental resource management , environmental planning , environmental economics , natural resource economics , economics , political science , public administration , finance , geography , linguistics , philosophy , ecology , biology
Growing momentum for decentralized climate policy and the falling costs of low‐carbon technologies are creating new climate change mitigation opportunities for subnational actors. Here we discuss how research can best support these subnational efforts to allow limited resources to stretch further. To stimulate this discussion, we identify four research priorities. (1) Innovation mechanisms examines local policy opportunities for technology improvement to achieve high returns on investments. (2) Co‐benefits analyzes the non‐climate benefits of emissions reductions to highlight how local policies can affect communities directly. (3) Emissions monitoring develops rapid, low‐cost, local measurement strategies to allow communities to assess and weigh in on the emissions impacts of local energy systems. (4) Decision levers reframes large‐scale analyses into more targeted and actionable metrics for local policy decisions. This piece was informed and inspired by a set of interviews we conducted with representatives in business, government, NGOs, and educational institutions actively engaged in local climate action, and by our own research. This article is categorized under: The Carbon Economy and Climate Mitigation > Policies, Instruments, Lifestyles, Behavior Policy and Governance > Private Governance of Climate Change