Are CO2 Emission Targets of C40 Cities Realistic in View of Their Mayoral Powers Regarding Climate Policy?

We evaluate the level of cities’ ambition regarding CO2 emission targets and implementation of climate policies, and factors explaining this. Our empirical analysis explores a dataset for a subset of C40 cities. The reason for studying these cities is that they supposedly are at the forefront of mitigation action. For example, they were the first to disclose their self-imposed emission targets. We determine the targeted future emission levels based on the targeted reduction from the baseline emissions. We calculate these for discrete 10-year periods: 2020, 2030, 2040 and 2050. Next, we contrast the resulting emission levels with those in the base year 2015. In addition, we study how distinct explanatory variables, notably mayoral powers regarding climate policy, city characteristics and geographical location affect target emission levels.