The climate governance implementation gaps in Milan (Italy)

While many municipalities have adopted ambitious climate agendas, a persistent implementation gap remains, where planning objectives fail to translate into effective actions. This study focuses on Milan's Air and Climate Plan, at the initial phase of its implementation, to investigate in depth how local government actors perceive implementation challenges. A qualitative case study approach was employed, drawing on 13 in-depth semi-structure interviews, observations of the dynamics and debates during the Permanent Climate Citizens Assemblies of the city, and analysis of primary source documents. First evidences revealed a complex interplay of interconnected barriers, grouped into eight categories, ranging from plan characteristics to lack of resources, behavioral and relational obstacles, among others. Interestingly, while “endogenous” barriers, linked with the municipal organization, were clearly identified alongside targeted strategies to overcome them, “exogenous” structural and political barriers were less recognized by the municipal actors, and thus no specific actions were conceived to overcome them. Furthermore, the paper results highlight how institutional and civil society actors perceive barriers differently, and how the former tends to not value nor account for the latter inputs to synergize and build integrated strategies. Finally, it is worth noticing the paradox of practitioners identifying as a main challenge the transversal nature of the plan while also demanding for more for trans-departmental collaboration. Despite having been advocated intensively for years, it stays a major institutional challenge. This re-opens the debate around what is the most effective governance model for effective climate implementation.