Cities' climate mitigation disclosures

We study whether political polarization shapes US cities' disclosures on climate mitigation (i.e., net zero transition initiatives). Using textual analysis of cities' budgets and annual reports, we categorize these disclosures into two types: (i) tangible descriptions of ongoing projects and (ii) intent, the non-committal discussions of the high-level project purposes and future plans. We find that while there is partisan difference in the ongoing project disclosures, it remains stable over time, suggesting that political polarization doesn't affect the implementation of underlying projects. However, we observe a growing divergence in intent, which is inherently more discretionary as it reflects promises rather than concrete actions. Consistent with cities acting in accordance with the preferences of their stakeholders, we find similar results when we examine the cities' communications with the citizenry and disclosures directed at bondholders.