Policy innovation in low carbon pilot cities: lessons learned from China

The central government of China hopes to acquire policy tools and measures of low-carbon pilot city development through policy innovation. This study sorts out and offers an evaluation of the city-level policy innovation related to low carbon pilot city development, which is beneficial to explore policy tools suitable for local characteristics. Based on the original policy innovations introduced and adopted by the local government, this paper discovers the independent policy innovations and the applied policy innovations. Results show that there are about 4 original policy innovations in each city, only a third of the policy innovations are actually implemented, and nearly half of the cities have no applied policy innovations. The setting of mandatory carbon emission reduction targets at the national level will help local governments to formulate corresponding policies and achieve carbon emission reduction targets through policy innovation. The internal comparison of these policy innovations between different cities can promote low-carbon urban policy diffusion and learning. The findings help to understand policy formulation and implementation for low-carbon pilot cities in China, and also provide a useful support for lowcarbon cities in other countries to develop their local characteristics.