Unfolding Local Roles in Energy Governance Experiments: Evidence from U.S. Cities

• In Event: Lock-In, Preemption, and Local Capacity: Place-Based Constraints on U.S. Climate and Energy Policy

Abstract

Local governments in the United States are on the frontlines of climate change, confronting wildfires, droughts, floods, and heat waves that expose vulnerabilities in infrastructure and governance systems. Although experimental climate governance is increasingly recognized as a pathway for sustainability transitions, U.S. research remains limited, particularly at the local level. Recent studies highlighting the functions of local experimentation, including supporting innovation projects, convening stakeholders, scaling initiatives, and influencing higher-level policy, are largely situated in the European context. Much of the existing work has also been conceptual or case-based, leaving little systematic evidence of how experimentation unfolds across diverse contexts or about the specific strategies cities use when advancing climate and energy policy. This matters because U.S. municipalities operate under distinct institutional constraints that shape how they engage with policy experimentation. Variation in legal authority, fiscal capacity, political leadership, and exposure to climate risk means that cities do not all experiment in the same way or for the same reasons. Some take on the role of direct implementers, launching and managing energy initiatives themselves. Others act primarily as facilitators or enablers, creating conditions for other actors to innovate. Understanding what drives cities toward one role or the other has practical implications for how federal and state governments design programs that rely on local participation in the energy transition. To address this gap, this study asks: How do U.S. local governments engage in experimental climate governance, and what factors shape the roles they undertake in energy and climate policy experimentation? The analysis draws on data from an original nationwide survey of 478 local government officials conducted in 2025, which captures how cities engage in experimental energy initiatives. Based on initial results, this study classifies active municipalities as direct implementers and/or facilitators or enablers based on the primary role they assume in energy policy experiments. Bivariate probit models test how city-level characteristics, including population size, form of government, fiscal capacity, political context, and climate risk, influence the likelihood of adopting each role. The findings contribute to a more systematic understanding of how U.S. cities participate in sustainability transitions and what institutional conditions support different forms of local energy governance.

Author

• Kawon Song, University of Kansas
  Presenting Author