Motivations for Institutional Climate Activism: A Case Study of Cities Race to Zero

The submitted research project examines the motivations of the sub-national units' involvement in global climate governance. To better understand and suggest ways to navigate local governance challenges, this project aims, for the first time, to analyse the motivations of cities in delivering net zero by focusing on the Race to Zero pledge initiated by UNFCCC: Why are cities willing to claim and stick with much higher climate ambitions than the central governments? By employing the theory of multi-level governance, hybrid multilateralism and a perspective of social movement theory, this project focuses on cities adopting contradictory positions to the central government while considering the importance of climate action and elaborating on the use of newly emerging concepts, therefore filling a glaring research gap. The research team consists of three authors who will attend two conferences throughout the duration of the project and deliver two high-level publications.