Transnational climate change initiatives have increased in number and relevance within the global climate change regime. Despite being largely welcomed, there are concerns about their ability to deliver ambitious climate action and about their democratic legitimacy. This paper disentangles the nature of both authority and legitimacy of a specific form of transnational networks, transgovernmental networks of subnational governments. It then investigates how a major transgovernmental initiative focusing on tropical forests, the Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force, attempts to command authority and to build and maintain its legitimacy. The paper illustrates the particular challenges faced by initiatives formed primarily by jurisdictions from the Global South. Three major trade-offs related to authority and legitimacy dimensions are identified: first, the difficulty of balancing the need for increased representation with performance on ambitious climate goals; second, the need to deliver effectiveness while ensuring transparency of governance processes; and third, the limited ability to leverage formal authority of members to deliver climate action in local jurisdictions, while depending on external funds from the Global North.

在全球气候变化制度中，跨国气候变化倡议的数量和相关性有所增加。尽管受到广泛欢迎，但人们对它们采取雄心勃勃的气候行动的能力及其民主合法性表示关切。本文阐述了特定形式的跨国网络，地方政府的跨政府网络的权威和合法性的本质。然后，它调查了主要的热带政府跨政府倡议，州长气候与森林工作组，州长气候与森林特别工作组如何试图掌权并建立和维护其合法性。本文说明了主要由全球南方地区的司法管辖区组成的计划所面临的特殊挑战。确定了与权限和合法性维度相关的三个主要权衡：首先，难以在实现雄心勃勃的气候目标与增加代表性之间取得平衡；其次，需要在确保治理流程透明性的同时提供有效性；第三，依靠成员的正式权力在当地辖区采取气候行动的能力有限，而这取决于来自全球北方的外部资金。