The Subnational Climate Action Leaders Exchange (SCALE) is a platform for institutions and coalitions working together to strengthen these fundamentals and leverage multi-level governance for accelerated climate action.
(Photo by ben o'bro | Unsplash)
Current global efforts may not be sufficient to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and there are challenges in adapting to the potential impacts of climate change. Subnational actors such as cities, states, and regions can play a role in addressing climate issues, particularly when working alongside civil society, the private sector, research institutions, and more. However, these subnational actors often face challenges in pursuing their climate-related goals. These challenges can include resource limitations, technical capacity constraints, and varying levels of political support.
The Subnational Climate Action Leaders Exchange (SCALE) aims to leverage multi-level governance to significantly accelerate progress on subnational climate action. In conjunction with other Integrated Climate Action projects, SCALE is a platform for showcasing the efforts of leading cities, states, and regions; facilitating peer-to-peer exchange and capacity building; promoting multi-level and cross-sector dialogue; and connecting national and subnational governments to relevant tools and resources that support the development of additional programs and technical assistance.
SCALE is a three-year project launched at COP27, supported by the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Energy, and Bloomberg Philanthropies, and implemented by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), C40 Cities, the Under2Coalition, University of Maryland’s Center for Global Sustainability, and WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities.
SCALE has two tracks of activities:
The SCALE Forum will support a Knowledge Hub and a series of Action Dialogues. Co-lead by PNNL and UMD’s CGS, the Knowledge Hub serves as a centralized collection of resources and insights crucial for achieving SCALE’s mission to realize successful multi-level governance and address the world’s most pressing climate issues. Through knowledge and open dialogue, the SCALE Forum will mobilize multi-level climate action by fostering political will, informing, and empowering key stakeholders, and identifying priorities for additional action and resource mobilization through SCALE Accelerators.
SCALE Accelerators are focused efforts to speed and scale-up action on specific topics, with lessons learned feeding back into the SCALE Forum. The goal is to foster support for climate decision making and implementation across government levels and partner organizations. These resources may include financing, technical expertise, data or analytical capacity, and/or human resources. Current SCALE Accelerators include Lowering Organic Waste Methane (LOW-Methane) and Zero Emissions and Resilient Buildings (ZERB).
