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Abstract:
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Climate Change and the global challenge of mitigation are at the fore of the global
political agenda these days. Storytelling about the abyss of climate change is
almost omnipresent and has been specifically so up to and during the Copenhagen
COP15 summit. This dissertation has taken on to investigate how this affects
the strategic situation of at large city – in casu Copenhagen. What become goals
in terms of mitigation, how are these goals affected by external factors and prevailling
images of what a city municipality is and does, what capability to act on
these goals is at hand, and which room for action do external factors leave the
municipality?
These questions are analyzed on the empirical basis of the recently issued Copenhagen
Climate Plan, including its preceding reports, and interviews, predominantly
with leaders and staff from the city administration. A special, a bit more
in-depth scrutiny is undertaken, concerning one of the plans so-called Lighthouse
Projects, “Cars should run on wind power”, aiming, at a considerable pace, to
introduce and build infrastructure for electric and hydrogen powered vehicles.
Theoretically, the analysis takes an institutionalist stance and builds on three
elements:
• A model on strategic, environmental setting for a public actor as three
normative vector dimensions, named Civil Society, Market and
Government
• A model on legitimacy as consisting of pragmatic, moral and cognitive
elements
• A capability model on an actors ability to act, constituted by common
values and legitimacy, authority and finally capacity in terms of time,
organisation and money
The main findings are, that the goals and room for action are primarily defined
by
• a prevailing conception, that citizens at large and thus local politicians
favour concrete, user-affiliated benefits and services in the city, which
doesn’t allow very much for aspirations to spend municipality money on
mitigation endeavours in their own right
• a heavy “market competition” between large cities and a special drive and
possibility for Copenhagen to build on to its already existing brand as the
Eco Metropolis by flavouring it with an ambitious Climate Action profile
– specifically in view of the exposure generated by the hosting of COP15.
• a conspicuous absence of a specific role for cities and municipalities in
national and international Climate Policy, which accordingly fails to counterbalance the aforementioned prevailing position of citizens by
legitimizing municipal spendings on ambitious climate goals
The capability to act is found to be considerable, due to a strong legitimacy, originnating
from the city brand – the Copenhagen Story – and a strong leadership
commitment. An important question mark is attached to the durability and profoundness
of local political support.
It is noted, that there is a highly dynamic balance, and that a shift in the external
factors simultaneously affect goals, capability and room for action, and might
cause non-linear changes and a potentially radically new situation. It is evaluated,
that so far the Climate Agenda has not shown to be anything like a revolutionary
force, influencing municipality practices in a dramatic way, but that the
potential is there, pending on a general cognition of even greater, political urgency
and united and forceful political action on the global scene. This, indeed, did
not occur as an outcome of the COP15. But who knows? |
