The emergence and impacts of ‘orchestrators’ and ‘inhibitors’ in polycentric climate networks

Within polycentric climate networks, different types of actors, such as businesses, NGOs, and faith groups, assume leadership positions that are independent of, but overlapping with, one another. In contrast to more top-down governance models, these nascent polycentric networks are highly complex systems, and are lacking empirical research. As a result, we do not yet understand fully how or why polycentric climate networks are developed, or even whether such networks facilitate more ambitious policy. More specifically, the empirical realities of two crucial types of nodes have been underexplored, namely ‘orchestrators’ and ‘inhibitors’. First, orchestrators govern indirectly to elevate climate ambition. Working with intermediaries, they employ incentives that are designed shape the behaviours of policy targets. Second, and in sharp contrast to orchestrators, not every actor in a polycentric network necessarily pursues greater climate ambition. Instead, inhibitors seek to obstruct, decelerate, or redirect others’ climate activities. Where do orchestrators and inhibitors come from, why do they assume these roles, and what shapes their impacts? In response, I analyse burgeoning polycentric climate networks . I examine the roles orchestrators and inhibitors play in shaping the levels of trust, the willingness to mutually adjust targets, and the capacity to conduct policy experiments, within local climate networks. This pilot study will develop a conceptual framework that is subsequently employed in several European cities as part of a future comparative analysis.