Powerful stories of local climate action: Comparing the evolution of narratives using the “narrative rate” index

Abstract

AbstractThe complex relationship between local climate action and reducing global emissions is often difficult to grasp and cities might scale back their ambitions if they realize that the way is hard and rocky. We analyze local climate change narratives through the lens of the narrative policy framework (NPF). Following the NPF, policy actors use narratives to communicate information to change an existing system in order to achieve a specific goal. For our study, this implies that local climate action can be improved by using narratives to communicate information to achieve climate neutrality. We focus on the position and interplay of the most important and dominant actors and concepts in the plot of the narratives. To better analyze the main actors and content of the NPF plot in a systematic and comparable way, we offer the “narrative rate index” to dynamically trace the narratives. To include the dynamics and effects of global significant developments in the plots of the NPF narratives, we selected three phases between January 2018 and June 2021. What are the main characters and dominant actors in the plot of the narratives in the two cases? Are the narratives different depending on the context of the city, and are there general observable patterns? Our findings identify the central actors in the narratives of both cities: the science institute in Karlsruhe and the City Administration in Mannheim. Karlsruhe, a climate change pioneer, has slowed down its climate change activities somewhat, while Mannheim is a latecomer with high ambitions.