Green Attraction: Transnational Municipal Climate Networks and Green City Branding

In this article, we investigate the nexus of green city branding and municipal climate networks. In recent decades, a number of formal transnational municipal climate networks have emerged and their membership continues to increase. In parallel, city branding that is based on green policies, has gained importance. Based on quantitative and qualitative data, we assess how and to what extent German cities use their membership in transnational municipal climate networks to communicate green city brands. In contrast to our expectations, we encountered very few indications of green city branding efforts by German cities. Our analysis shows that in general, branding considerations only play a negligible role in the involvement of cities in transnational municipal climate networks or climate policies. Instead, it seems that German cities use their membership in climate networks, to genuinely improve local climate change strategies. We therefore suggest that research on green city branding should be more sensitive to the particular context of cities and efforts should be made to unveil the underlying motives for the communication of green policies.