Abstract
Climate change governance is traditionally thought of and studied mainly as a matter for international cooperation. Central as they are for the advancement of climate-related commitments, international pledges need to be implemented by states, and implementation concerns not only the national level of government, but all government levels since climate change is not a unitary policy field. Climate protection overlaps with a number of subject matters that fall under the concurrent competences of both national and subnational levels. This means that, although subnational governments may not have direct primary competences in the fields of climate and environmental protection, they do have the possibility to substantively influence climate protection indirectly by exercising their legislative and administrative competences in matters linked to climate change, such as transport regulations, energy measures, and land use and spatial plans. How do subnational governments integrate climate change in their subnational policies in Italy and Austria? Are there any factors that may have a positive impact on this integration?