How Subnational Governments are Rescaling Environmental Governance: The Case of the Brazilian State of São Paulo

Abstract

This paper analyses how, by undertaking an international agenda to address global environmental problems, subnational governments (SGs) are promoting a rescaling of environmental governance. It uses the Brazilian state of São Paulo as a primary example. It argues that by establishing an international environmental agenda, the state breaks the fixed scales in which it would traditionally operate. As a result, the state engages in a particular form of rescaled environmental governance—one that extends the locus, agency, and scope of action from the regional to the transnational level. To undertake this analysis, the paper brings the multilevel governance and subnational diplomacy literatures into dialogue. The paper suggests that when engaging in an international environmental agenda, SGs promote six forms of rescaling; this is a wider and more nuanced picture than so far envisioned by the literature. The paper draws upon documental analysis, and semi-structured interviews.

Key Words:

• Rescaling
• environmental governance
• subnational governments
• multilevel governance
• subnational diplomacy

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Marco Pütz, Timothy Moss, and Jens Newig for their comments. Thanks also to the two anonymous reviewers for their contributions to earlier versions of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Joana Setzer http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7705-7684

Notes

1 In this paper, ‘state’ in lower case refers to a SG (e.g. the state of Sao Paulo), whereas ‘State’ with a capital letter refers to the federal or national government (e.g. the Brazilian State).

2 The sectoral breakdown of the participants: 23 state officials in São Paulo, 11 national officials in Brasilia (Brazil's federal capital), 7 representatives from NGOs, and 5 representatives from the private sector.