Collaborative Role of Metropolitan Municipalities in Local Climate Protection Governance Strategies: The Case of Turkish Metropolitan Cities

The impacts of global warming, environmental pollution and corrective protective policies for climate change have been discussed by scholars for more than half a century. This study elaborates enabling factors for municipalities that have an active role in emission reduction and adaptation in metropolitan cities in Turkey. Annual Action Reports and Strategic Plans of corresponding Turkish metropolitan municipalities in the second period of Kyoto Protocol were examined with document analysis to capture their local climate protection capacities. Secondary data were also gathered mainly from public institutions inventory and reports to determine major external factors on municipal climate initiatives. Ordinary Least Square regression method was used to analyse the extent of enabling factors including socio-economic, emission and vulnerability conditions that have an impact on local climate governance initiatives in metropolitan cities. The findings of the study indicate that emission level and socio-economics capacity of the metropolitan cities in Turkey have a high aspiration for greenhouse gases reduction actions, while vulnerability level of the climate change has no significant effect on municipal decision-makers and practitioners on local climate protection governance.