Decentring our appreciation of the association of factors and cities' mitigation patterns

Abstract

Urban climate governance literature has advanced in understanding how cities address climate change, but most quantitative studies focus disproportionately on large, globally prominent cities in the north, overlooking smaller and Global South cities. This gap limits our understanding of how diverse factors shape cities' mitigation actions and whether Global North and Global South cities follow distinct pathways. This study investigates how networking, political economy, sociocultural, and environmental factors are associated with cities' mitigation patterns-using sectoral and finance-implementation approaches as proxies for the advancement of climate governance. Drawing on a more representative dataset, we identify that cities with stronger environmental commitment (e.g., emission inventories, risk reporting) tend to implement cross-sectoral mitigation actions, particularly in building and energy systems. National-level wealth and institutional quality (GDP per capita, corruption) also influence sectoral priorities, while finance patterns remain less explained. We further find that C40 membership and globalisation are significantly associated with more ambitious actions in the Global South cities, but not in the Global North, underscoring asymmetric benefits of global networks. Our results reveal that no single factor explains urban climate governance patterns, highlighting how political, economic, and geographic co-dependencies produce divergent climate action pathways. By centering overlooked cities, this study contributes to a more inclusive and context-sensitive understanding of urban climate governance. Show more