Examining municipal response to a provincial climate action planning mandate in British Columbia, Canada.

The provincial legislature of British Columbia (B.C.), Canada, recently enacted Bill 27, which requires all municipal official community plans to contain greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets and associated policies by the end of May 2010. While the legislation is unique by North American standards in its mandate, it lacks particular design features that scholars believe to be critical for fostering compliance. To examine municipal compliance with Bill 27, we address two research questions: what per cent of B.C. municipalities adopted targets by the legislated deadline, and which factors explain variation in target adoption across municipalities? To help answer these questions, we utilise univariate descriptive statistics, bivariate analyses (including mean comparisons and correlation analysis), and binary logistic regression analysis. We find that nearly two-thirds of municipalities adopted targets by the deadline, and that target adoption across municipalities varies with particular municipal characteristics. Our findings highlight the importance of crafting legislation in a strategic fashion in order to maximise effectiveness, and the potential need for provincial governments to target particular sub-populations for additional education and assistance regarding climate action planning. We suggest directions for future research, including additional analysis of the content of adopted targets and associated policies by B.C. municipalities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]