Policy Capacity Influencing Factors in The Makassar City Government to Become a Zero Carbon City

Public policy capacity plays a crucial role in efforts to achieve zero emissions, with success depending on the effectiveness of policies designed and implemented by the government. This study highlights factors that influence the policy capacity of Makassar City, to become a low-carbon city. Through a qualitative approach, this study collected data from in-depth interviews with 24 key informants and city development plan documents, to explore the extent to which existing policy capacity supports the transition to zero emissions. The results show that factors such as policies and regulations, institutional structures, inter-agency coordination, human resource capacity, budget, cross-sectoral cooperation, supervision, program synchronization, public involvement, and technology are all interrelated, and influence the government’s ability to achieve a zero carbon city. The successful implementation of carbon emission reduction policies requires an integrated approach that strengthens all these elements. Therefore, building policies and regulations, increasing coordination, and maximizing public involvement are key to achieving sustainable environmental goals and improving people’s quality of life.