Through a reflexive capacity lens: Unpacking the effects of multilevel climate transparency on climate mitigation action

Summary

While transparency is widely recognised as essential to climate governance, its actual effects remains poorly understood. Scholars question whether transparency genuinely drives climate action or merely enforces procedural reporting. The UNFCCC framework assumes that transparency fosters reflexivity, prompting governments to reflect and act on disclosed information. However, this link remains underexplored. My research examines the relationship between climate transparency, reflexive capacity, and mitigation action. With case studies of Brazil, Mexico, China, India, Indonesia, and Jakarta, it investigates how responding to transparency demands enhances governments' ability to strengthen mitigation efforts. Findings suggest that engaging in multilevel climate transparency processes helps governments identify governance challenges and address them through what this study coined as the ‘four Rs’ reflexive responses: reorganisation, recalibration, reprioritisation, and reformulation of mitigation policies and strategies. By analysing these responses, this study provides deeper insights into how transparency enhances reflexive capacity, ultimately contributing to more effective mitigation action.