Canada • Multi-level climate governance

Introduction

Canada is one of the world’s most decentralized nations. As such, the responsibility for mandating and tracking local government climate actions falls to the provinces/territories. In the absence of provincial/territorial requirements, many local governments developed climate plans in the 1990s and 2000s with the support of non-governmental organizations. The 2016 Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change established a baseline carbon price and greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets, outlining shared actions to advance across federal, provincial and territorial governments. Local governments must abide by provincial / territorial regulations which differ in scope, approach, and reporting requirements.

Contents

1. Distribution of Climate Chance competencies
2. Legislative and regulatory drivers of local government climate action (planning, implementation and monitoring)
   – Historical Perspective (2000-2015)
   – Historical Perspective (2016)
   – Monitoring of Climate-Energy planning
3. Cross-scale governance of climate policy
   – Linkages between local governments and provinces/territories
   – Linkages between local governments, provinces/territories, and federal government
4. Finance for local governments to pursue climate action
   – Own Funding
   – Provincial/territorial funding
   – Federal government funding
   – International funding

Read our project and other case studies on multi-level climate governance in G20 countries here and check out case studies on France and Germany