The wickedness of net-zero policy: scales in policy discourse

Broad goals on climate change are largely set at international and national levels, whereas the tangible action required to tackle the challenge of climate change is essentially implemented at a local and individual level. The paper investigates how international policy discourses on climate change are adapted in local government, analysing a data set from a council debate in Germany about the EU programme ‘100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030’ and the textual and discursive networks created by that debate. The analysis is based on recordings from the council and committee debates, the different versions of motions, as well as the broader textual networks produced by the debate. Although the debate did not result in this city taking part in the programme, it initiated a wider debate within the urban society and increased the influence of local policy expertise. The article contributes to the agenda of critical policy discourse analysis by outlining the role of epistemological and ontological scales in the connection of global and local policy discourses, which contribute to the complexity and wickedness of climate change as a policy problem.