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This paper offers a critical examination of London's governmental and planning structures and its commitments to creating a sustainable city. Governing a world city like London has always been a difficult process. Legislative commitments to address London's sustainable future have sometimes been undermined by different policy interpretations by different key players over different time periods. This has created a fluid and diverse structure of governance that enables short-term policy shifts but which threatens longer term strategic sustainability policy commitments. These interpretations have occurred against an ongoing and contentious political debate over powers and responsibilities between different scales of the state, and the rights to make key decisions affecting London's future. This has resulted in a policy and governmental structure that is highly dependent on negotiation and compromise and one that employs a variety of policy tools, information and persuasion, financial incentives, and collaboration, to achieve a balanced form of governance. This flexible arrangement enables divergent public attitudes towards sustainability and climate change to be harnessed but may not deliver long term urban sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]