The local-level management of climate change : the case of urban passenger transportation in France.

Summary Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is one of the most important and urgent collective action issues facing humanity. Addressing this cross-cutting and transnational policy challenge appears to require action at multiple scales of governance: from changes in individual behavior to significant modifications in local, national, and international regulatory frameworks and decision-making processes. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, this project draws on theories of collective action, institutional economics, and multi-level governance and expertise tools to analyze what appears to be a "polycentric" governance model capable of achieving GHG mitigation objectives. More broadly, this project asks the overarching question of what governance changes are needed to generate real and permanent GHG emission reductions in the urban passenger transport sector. GHG mitigation depends not only on the ability of actors to coordinate, but also on the information tools needed to integrate these issues into decision making at multiple levels of governance and depending on different and heterogeneous political priorities. The analysis and conclusions resulting from this research make a number of contributions to both the theoretical literature and general policy practice as well as to the specific French decision-making process in the field of transport, urban planning and climate governance.