Abstract
It is true that the fight against climate change requires global vision and global commitments, hence the major role played by States and international negotiation rounds. However, implementation is currently one of the biggest failures of the UNFCCC framework and one of the aspects that needs to be addressed urgently if we want to avoid major climate disasters. While implementation is expected primarily at national level, my view is that at subnational levels it does happen but it should happen more - that is, at the level of federated entities, regional authorities, Autonomous Provinces, and similar.
The Eurac Research Institute of Comparative Federalism and the Universities of Trento and Innsbruck have joined forces under the project “Climate change integration in the multilevel governance of Italy and Austria”. This project, of which I am leader, focuses on subnational governments as central players in the integration of climate change considerations in those policy sectors where they exercise legislative powers.