Scaling city climate action requires closing North-South research divides and interventions tailored to regional contexts

Abstract Cities and urban areas are critical to tackling climate change. Yet, existing city climate action remains uneven and insufficient to meet global targets. Scaling city climate action requires a nuanced understanding what drives the adoption and durability of climate policies and actions in diverse urban contexts. However, the factors that drive city climate action have not been systematically studied at a global scale. This systematic review investigates the factors associated with city climate action. Here we show that city climate network membership is associated with city climate action strongly and most consistently across regions, while other factors have distinct regional relationships. Moving beyond North-South research divides, our results reveal which factors are important to replicate successes across regions and demonstrate how city climate interventions can be tailored to local contexts.