Research priorities for supporting subnational climate policies

Abstract

Growing momentum for decentralized climate policy and the falling costs of low‐carbon technologies are creating new climate change mitigation opportunities for subnational actors. Here we discuss how research can best support these subnational efforts to allow limited resources to stretch further. To stimulate this discussion, we identify four research priorities. (1) Innovation mechanisms examines local policy opportunities for technology improvement to achieve high returns on investments. (2) Co‐benefits analyzes the non‐climate benefits of emissions reductions to highlight how local policies can affect communities directly. (3) Emissions monitoring develops rapid, low‐cost, local measurement strategies to allow communities to assess and weigh in on the emissions impacts of local energy systems. (4) Decision levers reframes large‐scale analyses into more targeted and actionable metrics for local policy decisions. This piece was informed and inspired by a set of interviews we conducted with representatives in business, government, NGOs, and educational institutions actively engaged in local climate action, and by our own research.