What motivates urban climate leaders? A study of urban climate governance in eight Swedish municipalities

Figures & data

Table 1. Overview of selected municipalities.

City	Population size	Climate target	Average ranking over 10 years in Miljöbarometern
Helsingborg	150 000	Net-zero by 2035	1
Karlstad	95 000	Fossil free and climate smart by 2030	2
Eskilstuna*	108 000	Climate positive by 2045, 80% reduction to 2030	4
Lund	124 000	Climate neutral to 2030	5
Växjö	96 000	Fossil free by 2030	7
Jönköping	144 000	No general target	47
Kungsbacka	84 000	Climate neutral by 2045	77
Solna	85 000	Climate neutral by 2045	113

*With the initiative Viable cities, the target will be renewed to new-zero by 2030.

Table 2. Aspects motivating urban climate acting identified.

Motivating factor	Findings
Local political or socioeconomic circumstances	Local political and socioeconomic factors can motivate progressive environmental policy decisions.
Political leadership	Urban climate policies are reliant on actions by local political leaders and enthusiastic civil servants.
Political consensus	Consensus among local political establishment on climate policies can generate long-term policy stringency and positive policy outcome.
National subnational policies	Ambitious national and subnational policies and international agreements encourage urban climate actions.
Co-learning and collaboration	Municipalities can inspire and learn from each other, and collaboration between cities can thus be valuable.
The capacity of the municipal administration	A resourceful and independent administration strategically positioned within the municipality can generate climate policy progress.
Adopted strategies and targets	By adopting strategies, action-plans and targets, urban climate policies can be implemented more systematically and stringently.
Economic incentives and encouragement from the local business community	Successful municipalities recognise the economic co-benefits of climate policies and are interacting with business communities with ambitious climate targets.
Community engagement	Citizen engagement can have some influence on climate policies.