Alongside intergovernmental climate change negotiations, a groundswell of
climate actions by cities, regions, businesses, investors, and civil society
groups has emerged. These transnational actors seek to address mitigation and
adaptation to climate change; independently, with each other and with
governments and international organizations. Many have welcomed transnational
climate initiatives as a crucial addition to the formal climate regime,
contributing to a growing momentum to act on climate change. However, critics
have raised concerns about whether transnational actors are genuinely
interested in mitigation and adaptation, or whether they are they are
representing business-as-usual as clean and green. Moreover, are transnational
climate initiatives appropriately targeted to address needs of both developed
and developing countries; do they exacerbate imbalances in global climate
governance between the global North and South? This paper explores the
multifaceted relation between developing countries and transnational climate
governance. It discusses developing country engagement on the basis of their
political support for transnational initiatives, their leadership of, and
participation in transnational climate initiatives, and the implementation and
performance of such initiatives from the perspective of the global South
