The Perceived Benefits of Transnational Municipal Networks on Municipal Climate Change Initiatives

Abstract

Cities are uniquely positioned to become sustainable centres as they are responsible for key services which have large impacts on the environment (e.g., water/waste management, transportation, and infrastructure regulations). Working together across borders, local governments have banded together to form transnational municipal climate networks (TMCNs) with the purpose of achieving common environmental goals. While the financial, political, and administrative costs of joining such networks are low, the cost of implementing the network's obligations is high. This has created a dichotomy between active and inactive members who profit differently from their adhesion to the network. The purpose of this research is to test whether the variables which explain joining a transnational municipal network also explain active membership within one. The results also contribute to the overarching study of how effective TMCNs are at delivering upon their policy promises. To do so, this study runs a binary logistic regression of urban-level factors derived from this literature and tests whether they contribute to whether a city has implemented the network's obligations, particularly that of the Covenant of Mayors. The findings suggest that the factors which lead a city to join a TMCN are vary from those which...