Journal Issue: Cambridge Journal of Climate Research - Volume 3, Issue 1
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Volume
3
Number
1
Issue Date
2026-05
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
3050-2020
Journal Volume
Articles
Foreword
(2026-05) Zabala, Aiora
President's Letter
(2026-05) Trejtnar, Johana
Navigating the Green Transition: How the Global South Can Leverage Geopolitical Competition for Green Development
(2026-05) Venkatraman, Roopa
The Global South is central to the success or failure of the global response to climate change. Yet whether Southern countries can pursue green transformation on their own terms, rather than supplying resources and absorbing costs for wealthier economies, remains an open question. This paper focuses specifically on the green-industrial transformation, the process by which states redirect industrial capacity toward low-carbon sectors and clean energy technologies in order to transition away from fossil fuel dependence. It examines whether contemporary "polyalignment"–selective engagement with multiple competing powers–can be a promising strategy for countries in the Global South to accelerate their green industrial transformation. Achieving green industrial transformation requires long-horizon planning and active state coordination. The analysis identifies four mechanisms through which polyalignment either fragments or reinforces green-industrial planning: (i) conditioning access to strategic nodes on domestic value creation, (ii) leveraging creditor rivalry to soften financial discipline, (iii) building cross-regime regulatory compatibility, and (iv) disciplining domestic coalition formation around external partnerships. Four illustrative case studies (Indonesia's nickel sector, India's solar financing, Brazil's ethanol exports, and South Africa's renewable energy procurement) are selected to trace these four mechanisms across varying sectoral, regional, and geopolitical contexts. This paper argues that while polyalignment fragments the severity of external constraints placed on Southern states, thereby expanding room for manoeuvre, it only leads to lasting green industrial transformation when governments possess sufficient state capacity to convert multiple partnerships into a coherent industrial strategy. Polyalignment shifts the developmental challenge from accessing partners to governing partnerships, intensifying coordination demands precisely when decarbonisation requires long-horizon planning. Polyalignment amplifies rather than resolves the consequences of state capacity for Southern green transformation.
Unrealised “Build Back Better” Potential in the Era of Polycrisis: Lessons from COVID-19 for City Climate and Energy Transitions
(2026-05) Constabile, Kerry; Taylor, Nicholas; Phillips, Charlotte
Mitigating climate change in cities remains a central global policy priority, given that the majority of emissions stem from urban production and consumption. Prior to COVID-19, thousands of city governments had adopted ambitious climate action plans, including net-zero and renewable energy commitments. This study examines how COVID-19 and associated recovery packages affected city-level plans and actions. Drawing on literature on net zero, renewable energy, resilience, and COVID-19 recovery commitments and investments, as well as an original survey of 30 cities across the Global North and South—Argentina, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Mozambique, the Philippines, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States—and interviews with leaders from five megacities (Jakarta, Johannesburg, London, Mexico City, and New York), the analysis provides a comparative assessment of impacts and responses. The results indicate that city climate ambition and progress varied significantly by region, as did the effects of COVID-19 and recovery efforts. Many cities experienced delays as resources were redirected to immediate crisis response, while others benefited from new national green recovery policy frameworks and financing streams. Nearly three years after the World Health Organisation (WHO) marked the official end of the pandemic as a global health emergency in May 2023, COVID-19 has not fundamentally transformed cities in either the adverse or transformative ways initially anticipated. This paper identifies a set of recommendations to help cities leverage lessons from the pandemic to advance climate mitigation in the context of increasingly frequent and severe shocks.
Crisis as Catalyst: COVID-19 as a Policy Window for Climate Urbanism in Barcelona
(2026-05) Weichgrebe, Noah Valentin
The COVID-19 pandemic functioned not only as a public health emergency but also as a systemic shock to urban life, exposing deep-seated spatial inequalities and environmental vulnerabilities. This article examines whether and how the pandemic acted as a policy window for accelerating climate urbanism in Barcelona. Prior to COVID-19, the Catalan metropolis faced structural challenges, including severe air pollution, car-dominated allocation of public space, and uneven access to green areas. Drawing on John Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Framework and scholarship on urban experimentation, this paper argues that the pandemic catalysed the convergence of preexisting climate policy proposals, civic mobilisation, and political opportunity. Barcelona’s expansion of the superblock (superilla) model and the community-led green mobility initiative bicibús are analysed as forms of hybrid climate–health infrastructure: measures that simultaneously reduce greenhouse gas emissions, mitigate urban heat island effects, improve air quality, and enhance accessibility to public space. Rather than representing temporary or purely tactical responses to crisis conditions, these interventions illustrate how moments of disruption can accelerate longer-term structural transitions towards low-carbon, health-oriented urbanism. However, the durability of such transformations depends on governance capacity, sustained political support, and resistance from entrenched mobility and development interests. By positioning Barcelona as a case study of post-pandemic climate urbanism, this article contributes to debates on crisis-driven transformation and highlights the potential for cities to jointly leverage public health and climate change considerations to reimage sustainable and healthy urban futures.