Climate Adaptation Funding and Local Government Project Selection

Abstract

Background: Recent developments involving climate adaptation have made implementation quality, oversight, and administrative capacity central policy concerns.

Objective: The analysis examined how policy relating to climate adaptation operated in practice and whether differences in capacity and oversight were associated with outcomes in relation to local government.

Methods: Data consisted of 7,006 administrative, contractual, case-level, or transaction records across 8 public bodies. Measures covered process timing, procedural characteristics, institutional features, and outcomes; fixed-effects, multivariable, or time-to-event techniques were used where appropriate.

Results: Institutions did not perform uniformly on climate adaptation. Those with clearer procedures and better coordination recorded roughly 14% stronger performance on the primary outcome; capacity differences explained an estimated 31% of variation across units. Weak oversight and incomplete information-sharing characterized lower-performing settings.

Conclusion: The results shift attention from whether rules on climate adaptation exist to how those rules are administered in practice. This means that local climate governance needs clear mandates and administrative capacity if policy commitments are to produce timely, consistent action.

Study design: municipal panel study.

Publication history: Originally published in print on 15 June 2023, Volume 3, Article 5. Online abstract record added on 16 September 2026. Full-text PDF will be added when the digital galley is ready.