Climate Governance in Developing Countries: A Systematic Review of Policy, Institutional, and Power Dynamics, 2015–2025

Abstract

Climate governance increasingly extends beyond the international climate regime, with outcomes shaped by how international commitments are translated into national policies and subnational and local institutional frameworks. This is particularly important in developing countries, where institutional capacity constraints, competing development priorities, fragmented governance structures, resource inequalities and power asymmetries influence climate decision-making. This study critically reviewed climate governance literature published between 2015 and 2025 to address three research questions: (1) How have climate policies and institutional arrangements evolved in developing countries? (2) How do institutional arrangements and interactions between state and non-state actors influence stakeholder participation, inclusion and climate policy implementation? (3) How do institutional capacity, power relations and competing interests shape climate decision-making and implementation outcomes? A systematic literature review was conducted using the Dimensions bibliographic database, following PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Of the initial 28,162 publications, sequential filtering by publication period, ANZSRC 2020 Field of Research, Sustainable Development Goal 13, publication type and open-access status yielded 521 articles. Language screening resulted in a final sample of 500 journal articles. NVivo-supported thematic synthesis involved systematic coding, categorisation and interpretation of recurring patterns across the evidence. Findings indicate that climate governance in developing countries is increasingly multi-level, multi-actor and politically contested. However, policy adoption does not necessarily translate into effective implementation, which depends on institutional coordination, financial and technical capacity, political commitment, meaningful stakeholder participation and competing development priorities. Power asymmetries also influence agenda-setting, resource access and decision-making. The review highlights the need to examine how domestic institutions, actor relationships, governance capacity and political interests mediate international climate commitments, identifying priorities for future research in the Global South.