Editing IPCC:AR6/WGIII/Chapter-13 (section)

=== 13.5.1 Actor-networks and Policies ===

<div id="h2-11-siblings" class="h2-siblings"></div>

The decision adopting the Paris Agreement welcomed contributions of sub-national actors to mobilising and scaling up ambitious climate action (see also Chapter 14). They engage in climate relevant mechanisms, such as the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda. Sub-national actors fill a gap in national policies, participate in transnational and sub-national climate governance networks and facilitate learning and exchange among governmental, community, and private organisations at multiple levels, gathering knowledge and best practices such as emission inventories and risk management tools that can be applied in multiple contexts ( [[#Kona--2016|Kona et al. 2016]] ; [[#Sharifi--2016|Sharifi and Yamagata 2016]] ; [[#Michaelowa--2017|Michaelowa and Michaelowa 2017]] ; [[#Warbroek--2017|Warbroek and Hoppe 2017]] ; [[#Bai--2018|Bai et al. 2018]] ; [[#Busch--2018|Busch et al. 2018]] ; [[#Hsu--2018|Hsu et al. 2018]] ; [[#Lee--2018|Lee and Jung 2018]] ; [[#Marvin--2018|Marvin et al. 2018]] ; [[#Romero-Lankao--2018b|Romero-Lankao et al. 2018b]] ; [[#Ürge-Vorsatz--2018|Ürge-Vorsatz and Seto 2018]] ; [[#Amundsen--2018|Amundsen et al. 2018]] ; [[#Heikkinen--2019|Heikkinen et al. 2019]] ; [[#Hultman--2020|Hultman et al. 2020]] ).

Sub-national climate change policies exist in more than 142 countries and exemplify the increasing significance of mitigation policy at the sub-national level ( [[#Hsu--2018|Hsu et al. 2018]] ). However, estimations of the number of sub-national actors pledging voluntary climate action are challenging and underreporting is a concern ( [[#Hsu--2018|Hsu et al. 2018]] ; [[#Chan--2019|Chan and Morrow 2019]] ). As can be seen in more than 10,500 cities and nearly 250 regions representing more than 2 billion people, factoring for overlaps in population between these jurisdictions, have pledged climate action as of December 2020 ( [[#Hsu--2020a|Hsu et al. 2020a]] ). More jurisdictions in Europe and North America have pledged action, but in terms of population almost all regions are substantially engaged in sub-national action.

<div id="_idContainer017" class="_idGenObjectStyleOverride-1"></div>

[[File:9534673216e4e93297acceeaff22302b IPCC_AR6_WGIII_Figure_13_3.png]]

'''Figure 13.3 | Sub-national GHG mitigation commitments: Total population by IPCC region.''' Population of sub-national actors (cities and regions) recording climate action commitments as captured in the ClimActor dataset. Population calculation considers overlap between City and Regions by only accounting for population once for Cities and Regions that are nested jurisdictions. Source: adapted with permission from [[#Hsu--2020a|Hsu et al. (2020a)]] to reflect IPCC AR6 aggregation. Compiled in 2020 from multiple sources based on most recent year of data available.

Many of these efforts are organised around transnational or regional networks. For example, a coalition of 130 sub-national (in other words, state, and regional) governments, representing 21% of the global economy and 672 million people, has pledged about 9% emissions reduction compared to a base year (CDP 2020). More than 10,000 cities, representing more than 10% of the global population, participate in the Global Covenant of Mayors, C40 Cities ( [[#Global%20Covenant%20of%20Mayors%20for%20Climate%20and%20Energy--2018|Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy 2018]] ), and ICLEI’s – Local Governments for Sustainability carbon registry ( [[#Hsu--2018|Hsu et al. 2018]] ). In Europe alone, more than 6000 cities have adopted their own climate action plans ( [[#Palermo--2020a|Palermo et al. 2020a]] ) and nearly 300 US sub-national actors – cities and states – were committed to maintaining momentum for climate action as part of the ‘We Are Still In’ coalition ( [[#We%20Are%20Still%20In%20coalition--2020|We Are Still In coalition 2020]] ) in the absence of national US climate legislation. Further, as of October 2020, more than 826 cities and 103 regional governments had made specific pledges to decarbonise, whether in a specific sector (e.g., buildings, electricity, or transport) or through their entire economies, pledging to reduce their overall emissions by at least 80% (NewClimate Institute and Data Driven EnviroLab 2020). Cities such as Barcelona, Spain and Seattle, Washington have adopted net zero goals for 2050 in policy legislation, while many more cities throughout the world, including the Global South such as Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, have net zero targets under consideration ( [[#ECIU--2019|ECIU 2019]] , 2021).

Sub-national mitigation policies are highlighted below, based on the taxonomy of policies in [[#13.6.1|Section 13.6.1]] :

a) Economic instruments: as of 2020, there were carbon pricing initiatives (ETS, carbon tax or both) in 24 sub-national jurisdictions ( [[#World%20Bank--2021a|World Bank 2021a]] ). Examples include emission trading systems within North America, such as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and Western Climate Initiative (which also includes two Canadian provinces); tax rebates for the purchase of EVs; a carbon tax in British Columbia;and a cap-and-trade scheme in Metropolitan Tokyo ( [[#Houle--2015|Houle et al. 2015]] ; [[#Murray--2015|Murray and Rivers 2015]] ; [[#Hibbard--2018|Hibbard et al. 2018]] ; [[#Bernard--2019|Bernard and Kichian 2019]] ; [[#Raymond--2019|Raymond 2019]] ; [[#Xiang--2019|Xiang and Lawley 2019]] ; [[#Chan--2019|Chan and Morrow 2019]] ).

b) Regulatory instruments: policies such as land use and transportation planning, performance standards for buildings, utilities, transport electrification, and energy use by public utilities, buildings and fleets are widely prevalent ( [[#Bulkeley--2013|Bulkeley 2013]] ; [[#Jones--2013|Jones 2013]] ; [[#C40%20and%20ARUP--2015|C40 and ARUP 2015]] ; [[#Martinez--2015|Martinez et al. 2015]] ; [[#Hewitt--2019|Hewitt and Coakley 2019]] ; [[#Palermo--2020b|Palermo et al. 2020b]] ). Policies such as regulatory restrictions, low emission zones, parking controls, delivery planning and freight routes, focus on traffic management and reduction of local air pollution but also have a mitigation impact ( [[#Slovic--2016|Slovic et al. 2016]] ; [[#Khreis--2017|Khreis et al. 2017]] ; [[#Letnik--2018|Letnik et al. 2018]] ). For instance, in coordination with national governments, sub-national actors in China, Europe and USA have introduced access to priority lanes, free parking and other strategies fostering the roll-out of EVs ( [[#Creutzig--2016|Creutzig 2016]] ; [[#Zhang--2017|Zhang and Bai 2017]] ; [[#Teske--2018|Teske et al. 2018]] ; [[#Zhang--2018|Zhang and Qin 2018]] ; [[#Romero-Lankao--2021|Romero-Lankao et al. 2021]] ).

c) Land-use planning addresses building form, density, energy, and transport, which are relevant for decarbonisation ( [[#Creutzig--2015|Creutzig et al. 2015]] ; [[#Torabi%20Moghadam--2017|Torabi Moghadam et al. 2017]] ; [[#Teske--2018|Teske et al. 2018]] ). Its effectiveness is limited by absent or fragmented jurisdiction, financial resources and powers, competition between authorities and policy domains, and national policies that restrict local governments’ ability to enact more ambitious policies ( [[#Fudge--2016|Fudge et al. 2016]] ; [[#Gouldson--2016|Gouldson et al. 2016]] ; [[#Petersen--2016|Petersen 2016]] ). Most rapidly growing smaller cities in Latin America, Asia and Africa lack capacity for urban planning and enforcement ( [[#Romero-Lankao--2015|Romero-Lankao et al. 2015]] ; [[#Creutzig--2016|Creutzig 2016]] ).

d) Other policies: these include information and capacity building, such as carbon labelling aimed at providing carbon footprint information to consumers ( [[#Liu--2016|Liu et al. 2016]] ); disclosure and benchmarking policies in buildings to increase awareness of energy issues and track mitigation progress ( [[#Hsu--2017|Hsu et al. 2017]] ; [[#Papadopoulos--2018|Papadopoulos et al. 2018]] ); and procurement guidelines developed by associations ( [[#Sustainable%20Purchasing%20Leadership%20Council--2021|Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council 2021]] ). For instance, a building retrofit programme was initiated in New York and Melbourne to foster energy efficiency improvements through knowledge provision, training, and consultation ( [[#Trencher--2016|Trencher et al. 2016]] ; [[#Trencher--2019|Trencher and van der Heijden 2019]] ). Also significant is government provision of public good, services, and infrastructure ( [[#Romero%20Lankao--2019|Romero Lankao et al. 2019]] ), which includes provision of electric buses or buses on renewable fuels for public transportation ( [[#Kamiya--2019|Kamiya and Teter 2019]] ) and zero emission urban freight transport ( [[#Quak--2019|Quak et al. 2019]] ), sustainable food procurement for public organisations in cities ( [[#Smith--2016|Smith et al. 2016]] ), decentralised energy resources ( [[#Marquardt--2014|Marquardt 2014]] ; [[#Hirt--2021|Hirt et al. 2021]] ; [[#Kahsar--2021|Kahsar 2021]] ), and green electricity purchase via community choice aggregation programmes and franchise agreements ( [[#Armstrong--2019|Armstrong 2019]] ).

<div id="13.5.2" class="h2-container"></div>

<span id="partnerships-and-experiments"></span>