The Roles of Utility Districts and Institutional Embeddedness in Regional Partnerships for Climate Change Mitigation

Authors
Jayce L. Farmer
Working Paper Citation: Farmer, J. L. (2021). "The Roles of Utility Districts and Institutional Embeddedness in Regional Partnerships for Climate Change Mitigation"

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Regional collaboration to address problems surrounding climate change is becoming a vital part of local government endeavors. While a growing body of research is beginning to document how coordinated governance can be used to promote environmental and climate protection policies there is still limited research that explores the roles of utility districts and multiplex policy exchanges for sustainability actions. This study applies the institutional collective action framework to explore the influences of water utility districts and repeated regional engagements for sustainability policies on municipal choices to engage in regional partnerships for climate change mitigation. An analysis of U.S. cities reveals a positive connection between utility districts and regional partnerships around climate change. Likewise, repeated policy interactions were also found to be connected to municipal choices to engage in regional policy endeavors. The results suggest that utility districts can potentially serve as centralized organizations that can facilitate interlocal collaborative efforts. The findings also speak to the importance of institutional embeddedness and its facilitation of collaborative endeavors solidified through norms of reciprocity.