Low-carbon city development from a multi-level governance perspective: A comparative study of Shenzhen, China and the City of Darebin, Australia

While countries worldwide have committed to their respective carbon reduction targets, and all levels of government are engaged in efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change, the roles of multiple stakeholders in promoting low-carbon development and their interactive relationships vary significantly across nations. These differences result in varying progress and effectiveness in low-carbon development. In this context, this paper employs the concept of Multi-Level Governance (MLG) as an analytical framework to examine low-carbon city development in Shenzhen, China and the City of Darebin, Australia. Specifically, it compares the roles of multi-level governments and their interactions in low-carbon development in these two cities. The paper finds that Shenzhen’s low carbon development is driven by the joint efforts of the central and local governments, along with coordination and partnerships with non-government stakeholders at the community level, reflecting a flexible vertical dimension of MLG. In contrast, the City of Darebin empowers the local council and residents to collectively envision and decide on low-carbon policies, highlighting the key features of the horizontal dimension of MLG. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to the Institute for Global Public Policy, Fudan University.