Local Climate Governance under the Shadow of Hierarchy: Evidence from China’s Yangtze River Delta

Abstract

This study examines the making of local climate governance in the Chinese setting where central-local inter-governmental relations continue to play critical part in almost every policy domain. Through analysing the climate responses of the three provincial-level governments at the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), the paper argues that the process of “experimentation under hierarchy” is relevant to understanding the evolving of the subnational climate regime in the YRD region. We find the preponderance of the central authorities in initiating national climate strategies and galvanising responses at the local level. Meanwhile, provincial governments have been able to leverage climate plans and actions to achieve their own gains. These findings suggest that any optimism about subnational climate activism in a Chinese setting has to be mixed with caution. In fact, the shadow of hierarchical authority structure lingers and plays important part in the initiation of subnational response and spurring climate responses and innovations from below.

中央政府与地方政府的关系一直是中国各政策领域的关键问题。本文研究这种语境下中国地方气 候治理政策的形成。文章分析了长三角三省的气候应对，指出应从“层层尝试”的过程理解长三 角的地方气候治理，其中既有中央政府在制定国家气候战略方面的优势，也有地方政府的积极响 应。而省政府则从气候规划中收获效益。研究发现表明，对中国中央政府以下的气候治理活动都 需保持谨慎乐观。权力层级无处不在，并在地方应对以及激发自下而上的气候应对及创新中起着 重要作用。

Keywords:

• Climate change policies
• China
• central-local relations
• local policies
• policy experimentation

Notes

1. Following Teets and Hurst (2015, p. 23), the paper sees “experimentation” and “innovation” as synonymous terms, both referring to the process of which “new policy solution [are] developed in the specific context.”