Governing Climate Change Post-2012: The Role of Global Cities - Melbourne

While international negotiations for a climate change policy framework post-2012 continue, there is increasing recognition that a range of activities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are taking place ‘beyond’ this formal arena.

This working paper contributes to the research of the Tyndall Centre programme 1 by focusing on a group of non nation-state actors - global cities – and their role in climate governance. Cities are a critical source of man-made carbon dioxide emissions – accounting for as much as 78% by some accounts (Stern 2006) – and places where vulnerability to climate change may be acute.

The project includes four case-studies: London, Los Angeles, Mexico City and Melbourne. This working paper documents the experience of Melbourne. It charts the emergence and evolution of Melbourne’s climate change policy in the period 1998 – 2008. It reports that across metropolitan Melbourne climate policy has become an increasingly important policy issue, marked by the development of initiatives for addressing climate change which fall into three core categories: leadership; infrastructural change; and changing practice.