Cities and Citizens Partnering for Climate Action

Climate change mitigation requires multi-level governance, in which local action plays a critical role. Cities and municipalities are not only responsible for a significant share of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions but also possess the proximity to citizens necessary to implement practical and participatory solutions (Bulkeley & Betsill, 2003). In this context, citizen engagement has emerged as a key mechanism to enhance the effectiveness, legitimacy, sustainability and integrity of local climate action.

The aim of the workshop is to identify and collect suitable and successful examples of citizen participation and civic engagement. Best-practice examples will be presented, their success characteristics identified and options for a wider dissemination discussed. A particular focus is on the question of how cities can promote and use the involvement of their citizens to enable initiatives to make a meaningful contribution to high integrity climate action. The spatial focus is on the EU member states.

The webinar is organised by Öko-Institut, in the context of the EU Horizon Europe project ACHIEVE and in collaboration with HOLISTIC and WWF. 

Objectives of the workshop

• Discuss the role of citizen engagement for high integrity climate action on a local level
• Present and collect good practices of cities enabling citizen-led climate action
• Get into and enable an exchange between city practitioners and other actors
• Identify best-practice examples and discuss success factors