Innovation or implementation? Local response to low‐carbon policy experimentation in China

Abstract The low‐carbon pilot city project is a critical policy experimentation in China, which is designed to implement policy instruments and local initiatives for low‐carbon development targets. However, some scholars have argued that local pilots have not met the central government's expectation of policy innovation. The current literature mainly focuses on pathways at the national level and few studies have discussed how subnational authorities respond to the national goals. Through a case study, we present the actions and the political will of the local authorities and discuss the logic involved in the local government's response to the low‐carbon pilot city project. We conclude that the bottom‐up initiative has become a top‐down policy implementation process, which contributes little to the design of new and appropriate policy instruments and initiatives. The local government only “package up” the low‐carbon related policies responding to the country's requirement, showing less enthusiasm and political will toward low‐carbon development initiatives. This study contributes to subnational pathways of low‐carbon development and explores the responses and the political will of local government to policy experimentation.