Replication Data for: Climate Crisis at City Hall: How Japanese communities mobilize to eliminate emissions

Why do some communities develop better environmental governance outcomes than others? Past research showed that communities with better environmental governance outcomes tend to have more resources, like stronger government capacity, or fewer obstacles, like fewer ties to major polluting industries. This study tests whether the social capital and community-building policies of local governments improve their environmental governance outcomes. This mixed methods study looks at the case of all 1741 Japanese municipalities from 2005-2017, modeling greenhouse gas emissions across 4 different sectors of the economy, paired with case studies of high and low performing municipalities. This study finds that cities with stronger bonding and bridging social capital bolster the institutional capacity of cities, improving the effectiveness of their emissions reduction programs, and that successful emissions strategies like these have been diffusing throughout Japan since the 2011 disaster. By leveraging citizens’ social ties, cities can accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gas emission while improving civic engagement locally.