My research examines how local government officials’ discretion on climate-related policies affects low-carbon development in China. The research is designed as an in-depth single case study on the city of Hangzhou in Zhejiang province.

It will pay particular attention to the local government’s innovative measures in balancing different environmental policy goals with other policy areas, such as economic development, social welfare, etc. This qualitative study seeks to explore and understand local government officers’ decision-making in implementing climate, with an in-depth analysis of policy documents and the bureaucratic structure of local government departments. The research is underpinned by several key concepts, namely, polycentric climate governance, environmental governance, policy implementation, and local discretion.

Zhenchuan is a member of the Resource Politics research cluster and is supervised by Wei Shen, Lewis Husain, and Martin Greeley.