(Book Review) Governing Climate Change: Global Cities and Transnational Lawmaking

Abstract

Jolene Lin's 'Governing Climate Change: Global Cities and Transnational Lawmaking' (Cambridge University Press 2018) adds to the debate on whether cities and their transnational governance networks help in addressing climate change. Answering in the affirmative, Lin argues that city networks spread practices and voluntary standards, which eventually develop into ‘norms’ – reference points of appropriate behaviour which possess ‘a quality of “oughtness” that sets them apart from other kinds of rules’ (p.127). Referring to these norms as ‘urban climate law’ (p. 128), Lin concludes that they positively contribute to global climate governance by complementing and reinforcing the international climate regime that has evolved under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).