The climate regime after Paris: an opportunity for regional leadership beyond the State?

Abstract

Abstract In the fast-changing landscape of global climate governance, a more polycentric climate regime was recognized with the Paris Agreement. Given the possibility for non-state actors to become agents of change, this paper observes that dynamics of climate leadership are also being defined by regional governments in federal or decentralized systems. Regional governments do so by actively engaging in Paris’ climate efforts by using their self-governing capacities to set their own internal and external climate strategies that may anticipate, bypass, or surpass state action. Although studies have explored leadership dynamics in polycentric structures, the field of climate leadership lacks conceptual and empirical research on regional climate action. Relying on the literature of polycentric governance and climate leadership, our paper (1) articulates the research gap on the phenomenon of regional climate leadership beyond the state and (2) suggests a revised perspective on climate leadership applied to federal or decentralized contexts.