The OGP Local Circle on Climate Action is a working group uniting reformers from government, civil society, and organizations committed to advancing climate action through open government principles. Climate change is a global threat requiring urgent, multi-level responses.
Cities generate up to 80% of greenhouse gas emissions, consume two-thirds of global energy, and produce half of global waste, making local governments essential to both mitigation and adaptation, as well as achieving national climate targets.
Local governments must be part of the solution to climate change, for example, by disclosing information on issues such as local gas emissions, water usage, or renewable energies, and working collaboratively with citizens to assess cities’ environmental impact, evaluate how to reduce it, and work together to implement policies.
This Climate Circle promotes transparency, public participation, and open data to address issues like clean energy, recycling, climate resilience, and the intersections of climate with poverty, gender, and youth.
SESSIONS
Citizen Participation and Climate Action
Making Just Transition Central to Climate Action
Local Climate Action: Engaging for Change
Buenos Aires Declaration
Networking Meeting Agendas
Coordination
Government of Scotland (UK)
Contact: Doreen Grove, [email protected]
Government of Navarra (Spain)
Contact: Mariana Cancela, [email protected]
FundLink Aid, Plateau (Nigeria)
Contact: David Wuyep, [email protected]
November 2025
About
This session showcased five approaches to participatory climate governance, highlighting how inclusive design, local knowledge, and strong institutional frameworks can support effective and equitable climate action. Practitioners from Buenos Aires, Navarra, Quintana Roo, Nairobi, and Osasco shared practices ranging from climate assemblies and workshops to co-created governance plans and collaborative policy design. Speakers emphasized that meaningful participation requires methodology, expertise, and trust between governments and communities. Climate policy is most effective when informed by both data and the experiences of those most affected.
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- Buenos Aires – Citizen participation informs climate planning
- Input from over 500 students, 40 seniors, and multiple civil society groups shaped the city’s fourth Climate Action Plan through workshops, memory-sharing activities, and a public forum.
- Feedback helped prioritize policies for vulnerable populations and guide targeted projects.
- Navarra – A structured citizens’ assembly guides decisions
- A Citizens Climate Assembly was created to produce a recommendations report to present to the Navarra Parliament on how to effectively and fairly address climate change, solutions on gas emissions, and a just ecological transition.
- Thirty participants, selected from 560 applicants, received training from 12 experts in legal framework, scientific knowledge, and citizen participation to support their preparation of the report.
- Quintana Roo – Community collaboration shapes governance
- 3,500 people and 55 organizations co-created an environmental governance plan.
- The local approach addresses specific ecosystem needs (mangroves, cenotes, stromatolites).
- Incorporating the Escazú Agreement’s principles, the plan is the first policy document to recognize corruption as a key environmental threat and a driver of ecological harm.
- Nairobi – Dialogue strengthens climate-related transport policy
- Nairobi’s public transport relies on privately owned diesel buses, which contribute to air pollution. A new e-bus policy, which seeks to transition to electric buses, faced strong pushback from operators.
- Engagement with operators, commuters, and residents has helped the implementation of the e-bus policy. The participatory approach led to a model that enabled bus operators to transition to e-buses gradually.
- Osasco – Local knowledge directs territorial climate action
- The project “Territórios em Foco Osasco, pelo Clima” was designed to translate the Municipal Risk Reduction Plan from paper into concrete actions that communities could understand and participate in.
- Over 600 residents participated in six “talking-maps” workshops facilitated by the CSO Delibera Brasil, where they identified local climate risks on aerial photos.
- The result was the creation of the first strategic policy dedicated to environmental development and climate with specific budget allocations.
- Camila Caballero (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
- Carolina Teller (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
- Estibaliz López (Navarra, Spain)
- Cynthia Dejesa (Quintana Roo, Mexico)
- Omadon Collins (Nairobi, Kenya)
- Felipe Tanus (Osasco, Brazil)
September 2025
About
This session examined how open government approaches can support fairer climate policies. As climate policies are affected by economic and political challenges, Scotland’s Just Transition Commission and Contagem’s Climate Action Plan show how embedding collaboration, transparency, and justice can protect people while driving policies that protect our environment. The discussion highlighted how climate action can succeed when justice, collaboration, and institutional commitments guide every step, from community dialogue to national policy.
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- Climate action succeeds only when people are at its heart. (Satwat Rehman, Co-Chair, Scotland’s Just Transition Commission)
- Every climate policy must be guided by justice and equity from the outset, addressing the links between poverty, health, and well-being.
- Engaging directly with communities ensures that climate action is practical, inclusive, and leads to equitable change.
- Effective climate solutions require a systems approach in which actions are coordinated across sectors such as energy, housing, transport, and social infrastructure to achieve sustainability, equity, and resilience together.
- Making policy meet people. (Elliot Ross, Scotland’s Just Transition Commission)
- The Scotland’s Just Transition Commission bridges the gap between climate policy and people’s experience through inclusive dialogue and collaboration.
- It acts as both a watchdog and a champion, ensuring that climate justice and fairness are embedded across policies.
- The Commission ensures that government climate action reflects people’s realities and becomes a genuine “whole-of-society” effort instead of a “whole-of-government” one.
- From plans to legislation: building Climate Justice in Contagem (Sarah Campos, Attorney General, City of Contagem (Brazil)
- Contagem has a Climate Action Plan that is guided by the Commission for Broad Dialogue, which ensures that citizens, academics, businesses, and media help shape its planning, monitoring, and implementation through the civil-society-represented Environmental Council.
- The climate plan integrates governance, emissions data, and risk assessments. It addresses urgent issues like transport emissions, floods, landslides, and public health risks.
- By linking legal structures, citizen engagement, and risk-informed planning, climate actions are inclusive, durable, and responsive to social and environmental vulnerabilities.
- Satwat Rehman – Co-Chair, Scotland’s Just Transition Commission
- Elliot Ross – Member, Scotland’s Just Transition Commission
- Sarah Campos – Attorney General, City of Contagem, Brazil
June 2025
About
Hosted by the City of Buenos Aires, the session highlighted innovative practices in climate planning, digital platforms, strategic foresight, and citizen deliberation. Participants exchanged methodologies and tools to build resilience and advance ambitious climate agendas grounded in co-creation. Across all cases, transparency, participation, and collaboration —core open government values —proved to be essential for designing effective, legitimate, and community-driven climate policies.
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- Local actors shared how co-creation, digital innovation, and foresight planning are strengthening climate action grounded in open government values.
- Sekondi-Takoradi (Ghana) presented its Sustainable Energy Access and Climate Action Plan (SEACAP), developed with substantial community input, as a way to align climate goals with local needs and ensure the inclusion of marginalized voices.
- Yerevan (Armenia) showcased its green development platform and public dashboards as practical digital tools to increase transparency, monitor progress, and build trust in local climate policies.
- Austin (USA) highlighted how it integrates strategic foresight into climate planning, using future scenarios, academic partnerships, and civic engagement to build long-term urban resilience.
- The Resurgentes project, led by Democracia en Red, demonstrated the power of deliberative democracy through a regional citizen participation process tackling the climate crisis in Latin America.
- Isaac Aidoo, Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (Ghana)
- Meri Harutyunyan, City of Yerevan (Armenia)
- Ana DeFrates, City of Austin (USA)
- Ignacio Gertie, Resurgentes Project, Democracia en Red
- Moderation by the City of Buenos Aires
May 2023
About
The second session, hosted by the City of Buenos Aires during Open Gov Week 2023, focused on the Buenos Aires Declaration, the first international agreement between local governments to promote the opening of environmental information and citizen participation to mitigate the effects of climate change. Local governments shared how they are advancing climate action through open government and reaffirmed their commitment by supporting the Buenos Aires Declaration.
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- Buenos Aires (Argentina) underscored the Declaration as a tool to scale open, participatory climate action and encouraged more cities to join.
- Scotland (UK) shared lessons from its citizen climate assembly, participatory green fund, and open platform for civil dialogue.
- Bragado (Argentina) presented a new open data portal to make sustainability and environmental information more accessible.
- Asturias (Spain) showcased long-term environmental indicators to track pollution and drive green policy.
- Tirana (Albania) shared its urban forest plan, citizen-led energy efficiency efforts, and 100% electric municipal fleet.
- São Paulo (Brazil) emphasized environmental justice and the need to coordinate efforts across governments.
- Rosario (Argentina) shared how data, academic partnerships, and community engagement support local climate plans.
- Participants agreed that:
Signing the Buenos Aires Declaration is a meaningful step to align open government with bold local climate goals. - Sharing experiences and tools helps scale action and adapt solutions to local needs.
- Civil society must be engaged at all stages, from design to implementation, to ensure inclusive and impactful climate policy.
- Participants agreed that:
- Tamara Laznik, Buenos Aires City Government (Argentina)
- Tessa Ferry, The Scottish Government (UK)
- Emiliana Chávez, Bragado Municipality (Argentina)
- José Antonio Garmón Fidalgo, Asturias (Spain)
- Celso Andrade de Souza, Sao Paulo City Government (Brazil)
- Genci Kojdheli, Tirana Municipality (Albania)
- Miguel Cánaves, Rosario City Government (Argentina)
April 2022
About
The first session of the OGP Local Circle on Climate Action, co-hosted by the Scottish Government and the Government of Buenos Aires, discussed ways to strengthen democracy and accelerate climate action through citizen participation. Across contexts, tools like citizen assemblies, participatory budgeting, and open data were recognized as key enablers of inclusive, localized climate governance.
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- Participants discussed how to advance inclusive and participatory climate action through open government.
- They emphasized that since cities are responsible for the majority of global emissions, equity and public participation must be embedded in all stages of climate policy.
- Participants agreed that co-creation with civil society can enhance the legitimacy and impact of local climate plans, and that collaboration between open government and environmental actors is essential to bridge policy, participation, and implementation.
- Buenos Aires (Argentina) showcased the Climate Action BA platform, developed with citizens and civil society, as a model for transparent, digital, and citizen-driven climate action.
- Scotland (UK) highlighted the role of legally anchored public engagement, connecting citizen assemblies and just transition commissions to formal government responses.
- Estonia’s Green Tiger Foundation presented youth-led climate assemblies as powerful tools to promote trust and civic participation, particularly in marginalized areas.
- Javier Irigaray, Buenos Aires City Government (Argentina)
- Tessa Ferry, The Scottish Government (UK)
- Matt Grady, The Scottish Government (UK)
- Teele Pehk, Green Tiger Foundation, Estonia
- Jesse Worker, World Resources Institute