This case was part of the Young American Leaders Program (YALP) at HBS, which annually brings together cross-sector executives from 14 U.S. cities for a convening focused on civic collaboration and tackling pressing societal challenges. The participating cities - which include Birmingham, Boston, Chattanooga, Columbus, Detroit, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis-St.Paul, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Jose, and Seattle, represent a wide spectrum of geographies, political contexts, and institutional capacities.

In our 15-part series, Can Cities Beat the Heat: A Comparative Analysis of Climate Actions and Change Enablers in 14 U.S. Cities, Professor Kanter and I set out to explore the on-the-ground innovations happening across these metros. Each city’s profile examined how local actors—governments, businesses, nonprofits, and residents—navigate their own mix of constraints and opportunities to pursue climate action, and what it might take to scale those solutions beyond their zip code.

Obviously, there’s a lot to unpack across these wide-ranging cities. Over the course of multi-year research, the Can Cities Beat the Heat (A) case introduces a framework for evaluating climate action by focusing on four key change enablers: (1) institutional alignment, (2) trust in leadership and civic systems, (3) issue salience, and (4) infrastructure for collaboration. These factors help explain why some cities have been able to accelerate bold climate strategies while others remain stalled—regardless of their risk levels or resource base.

As the case describes, pace-setting cities like Seattle and Boston led the way through aligned policies and robust innovation ecosystems—spurring breakthroughs such as Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena and Boston’s dynamic cluster of climate-focused biotech and clean energy ventures. Cities in the “moving-despite-obstacles” group had also made meaningful progress—like Detroit’s ambitious 41-mile multi-mobility loop connecting neighborhoods through bike and pedestrian infrastructure. Meanwhile, “aspiring-but-lagging” cities such as San Antonio faced steeper political headwinds, where climate remained a low priority for state leadership despite growing heat vulnerability in the city’s inner neighborhoods.

Completing this project allowed our research team to build a bank of climate solutions, surfacing innovations ranging from Miami’s alignment of research institutions around coastal resilience to Minneapolis’s EV car-sharing initiatives aimed at reducing transportation emissions. Ultimately, the case reinforces that while every city starts from a different place, meaningful climate progress depends on the ability to collaborate across sectors, build trust, and translate vision into durable, on-the-ground action.