Institutional outcome at the subnational level – Climate commitment as a new measurement

Abstract

This paper presents the concept of climate commitment for measuring institutional effectiveness in global climate governance at the subnational level. The research scope is limited to a top-down perspective and the outcome dimension of institutional effectiveness. It considers the multi-level governance theoretical approach to assess subnational governments' behavior in global climate governance and defines subnational governments as the level between the national government and cities/municipalities. Climate commitment stands on two dimensions: governance processes and greenhouse gas emissions trajectory. The principal component analysis statistical method examines the climate commitment variables' behavior and the results for Brazilian subnational units (26 states and the federal district). The research's contribution offers an alternative approach to subnational actors' role in global climate governance architecture and an alternative model for policy design.