The UK, like other countries, has seen a proliferation of declarations of local climate emergencies. While these declarations have been interpreted as a demonstration of ambition, little is known about how and why they actually came about when they did and the implications this will have for what happens next. Focusing on London, UK, we present evidence collected via semi-structured interviews with experts and practitioners involved in the propagation of climate emergency declarations to critically explore how and why these declarations emerged, and the various different roles they are perceived to play for different local actors. Our findings reveal four journeys to local government declaration of a climate emergency (made actively from above, passively from above, actively from below, and passively from across) and three interwoven purposes (statements of intent, acting as a political gesture, and stimulating local action). We argue that these three purposes combine and coalesce to correlate the declaration of climate emergency with a local responsibility for emissions reduction, leaving little analytical space to question the scalar disconnect between the immediacy of the narrative at local scales and the slow-burning (and) global nature of the threat in question. If these emergency declarations are to be an opportunity for change in the governance of climate change, then the question of ‘what next?’ requires more in-depth, thorough and constructive engagement with the type of climate action the declarations are expected to induce while considering how this aligns with existing responsibilities and resource bases of local government.

与其他国家一样，英国的地方气候紧急情况声明激增。虽然这些宣言被解释为雄心壮志的表现，但人们对它们实际上是如何以及为什么出现的时候以及这将对接下来发生的事情产生的影响知之甚少。以英国伦敦为重点，我们展示了通过对参与传播气候紧急情况声明的专家和从业人员进行半结构化访谈收集的证据，以批判性地探讨这些声明是如何以及为什么出现的，以及他们被认为在不同地方扮演的各种不同角色演员。我们的研究结果揭示了地方政府宣布气候紧急情况的四次旅程（自上而下、被动自上、主动自下、和被动地从对面）和三个相互交织的目的（意图陈述、作为政治姿态和刺激当地行动）。我们认为，这三个目的结合并结合起来，将宣布气候紧急情况与地方减排责任联系起来，几乎没有分析空间来质疑地方尺度叙事的即时性与缓慢燃烧（和）之间的标量脱节所涉威胁的全球性质。如果这些紧急声明要成为改变气候变化治理的机会，那么“下一步是什么？”的问题。需要更深入的，