Introduction to the Special Issue “Bringing Governance Back Home: Lessons for Local Government Regarding Rapid Climate Action”

There is a growing recognition both that rapid action on climate change is urgently necessary, and that many of the responsibilities for this action (e.g., around transport, land use planning and economic development) rest at a local level. Attesting to this are the growing number of local authorities internationally that have declared climate emergencies, especially since 2019. Responding to this emergency will require significant changes to the assumptions, expectations, priorities and procedures of locally elected representatives and government officials. While questions about technical solutions and policy design for rapid climate action have been well studied, little attention has hitherto been paid to the crucial question of how such outcomes might be implemented, by whom, and how action is enabled or constrained by the institutional and other sociotechnical relations in which these actors are embedded. This Special Issue examines some of the ways in which the individuals and institutions of local authorities and their partners have begun to engage with the new challenges of local climate governance