You may access the FULL STUDY HERE.

Cities eager to adopt better climate policies are learning from one another—but the knowledge gained often stays with individuals and fails to be meaningful for the organizations they represent. That’s one of the key findings from a new study published in the Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, examining how city-to-city (C2C) learning functions at both personal and institutional levels.

The research draws on data from 252 city representatives around the world, most of whom are part of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. The study zeroes in on how these representatives acquire knowledge from peer cities and whether that information is used within their organizations.

While around two-thirds of the respondents said they developed new understandings of climate policy after participating in a C2C exchange, just around half saw those ideas used in organizational practice. The study found that only 20% of respondents strongly agreed that their organizations applied the lessons learned.

Two factors stood out in boosting individual learning: trust among participants and power delegation. “Trust allows participants to view each other as credible and legitimate sources of information,” the study notes. Meanwhile, “…empowerment motivates and engages participants in C2C learning, as they take charge of developing and determining the output, which positively influences learning.”

But when it comes to applying that learning inside institutions, different factors were at play. The most important condition was whether the new knowledge matched the organization’s policy priorities at the time. Strong internal communication strategies and supportive leadership also made a difference.

The paper also points to a disconnect: climate policy learning often ends with the person, not the system. The study recommends designing tailored learning exchanges to better target individual and organizational outcomes in order to “enhance coordination across cities, strengthening their collective capacity to address complex climate change challenges.”

With the climate crisis demanding faster and smarter responses, the study offers city networks a roadmap to make inter-city learning more than just a conversation.

You may access the FULL STUDY HERE.