CLIMATE+

Like many European cities, our local authority has largely shaped its climate policy around targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and dedicated planning tools (climate action plans, zero-carbon initiatives, energy roadmaps). While this approach has led to real progress, it is now showing certain shortcomings. In particular, we have observed that:
•    Climate action remains largely siloed and difficult to coordinate with other major public policies, particularly those relating to social issues, health or biodiversity;
•    Climate initiatives mainly engage publics who are already aware of the issues, leaving a significant proportion of the population on the sidelines, particularly those groups most exposed to economic, social or regional vulnerabilities ;
•    Monitoring and evaluation tools struggle to capture the real-world impacts of climate strategies on living conditions, health or inequalities, and are often developed behind closed doors without stakeholder involvement.
 

In this context, our community is now seeking to develop new forms of climate governance that allow for greater public participation and better integration of social issues into the transition.
 

The objectives of the Climate+ project are to design and test a new model of democratic governance that enables inhabitants to participate in the planning and evaluation of local climate policies that are ambitious, socially just and which maximise co-benefits. 
We propose three operational areas of focus: 
1. Strengthening participatory mechanisms to engage residents who are generally under-represented in traditional consultation processes 
2. A co-creation of inclusive climate policies, through an assessment of the social, health and territorial impacts of climate transition priorities;
3. A participatory evaluation of climate policies, enabling residents to contribute directly to their analysis and assessment.
 

We are looking for cities that might be interested in the topic, with special interest to cities that want to lead a consortium.