Scaling up local climate action: A survey of climate policy priorities in the Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities region

Abstract

Regional planning can help functionally-connected communities share expertise and the costs of climate action and amplify collective concerns and needs to upper-level governments. Understanding communities’ climate impacts, policies and barriers to action is foundational to the development of regional-scale climate planning. In support of a nascent climate strategy in the Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities region of British Columbia, our study employs a web-based survey of local government officials (n=106) to identify the existing climate impacts, policy priorities, barriers, and opportunities that guide climate policy-making in the region, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that nearly all communities have experienced climate-related impacts and have implemented a variety of climate policies. However, local governments face substantial barriers—including a lack of financial resources, authority and staffing capacity—to pursue climate action and planning.

Tackling climate change on the local level: A growing research agenda

“…Overall, it can be stated that the findings of this special issue speak well to the recent literature on the drivers of local climate policy. In a nutshell, this literature finds several factors that drive the adoption of climate policies at the local level, such as the wealth and the size of a municipality, as more populated and richer local communities are usually better equipped with financial resources and have higher institutional and staff capacity at their disposal (see for example, Hui et al, 2019; Rhodes et al, 2021). Hence, a city's or municipality's climate protection ambition depends on a beneficial combination of socio‐demographic and socio‐economic conditions (Haupt & Kern, 2022).…”