Announcing OGP’s Open Climate Working Group, Co-Chaired by World Resources Institute and the Government of France

In the spirit of the Open Government Partnership’s (OGP) co-creation week, World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Government of France are pleased to announce the launch of the Open Climate Working Group (OCWG), which will support OGP members and civil society in implementing climate policies more effectively and equitably through open government. The Paris Agreement recognizes that strengthening transparency, accountability, and public participation not only enables countries to accelerate climate action, but such reforms also build awareness, legitimacy, and cooperation from the public and non-state actors. They allow governments to better address equity issues inherent in climate change impacts—issues that are inextricably linked to the Sustainable Development Goals.

More than 10 countries, including France, Mexico, the United States, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Macedonia, Jordan, Chile, Honduras and Tunisia, have already made climate-focused commitments in their National Action Plans (NAPs). To help nations achieve these objectives, governments and civil society organizations pledged to share tools, technical expertise, and financial resources in The Paris Declaration’s collective actions. Building on this momentum to leverage the OGP space to accelerate climate action, WRI and the Government of France created the OCWG to enable peer learning, knowledge exchange, and support for countries strengthening climate governance. Following official approval from the OGP Peer Learning and Support subcommittee, the OCWG will hold its first meeting in early April with four founding governments—France, Kenya, Chile and Georgia—and over 20 civil society organizations from Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, Kenya and several other countries.

The OCWG’s objectives include:

• Enhancing collaboration between governments and civil society on climate-relevant policy-making, planning, and implementation to shape NAP commitments;
• Sharing appropriate tools to support the tracking and disclosure of climate financeGovernments are making climate finance more open by introducing public oversight to ensure funds reach intended targets and making decision-making processes more inclusive to make vulnerable groups mo... More sources and allocation;
• Developing guidance on the release and use of climate data in open formats;
• Providing guidance on creating more transparent and democratic energyEnsuring universal access to sustainable, dependable, and affordable energy is critical to every aspect of prosperity. Increasing public oversight and transparency in the energy sector can help to ens... More sector decisions that support energy access and emission reduction goals;
• Applying open dataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici... principles to climate data management and disclosure;
• Promoting genderOGP participating governments are bringing gender perspectives to popular policy areas, ensuring diversity in participatory processes, and specifically targeting gender gaps in policies to address gov... More equality and social inclusionOGP participating governments are working to create governments that truly serve all people. Commitments in this area may address persons with disabilities, women and girls, lesbian, gay, bisexual, tr... More through climate decision-making processes that support empowerment of marginalized groups;
• Through peer learning, identifying innovative approaches to develop institutional support for effective implementation of cross-cutting climate policies.

These objectives were informed by existing OGP climate commitments, feedback from OGP member governments, and priorities identified by over 100 civil society participants during The Access Initiative’s Global Gathering on Open Government for Climate Action held in the lead-up to the OGP Global Summit 2016. However, they are also flexible to the needs and priorities that may arise during national consultations and implementation activities.

During its first year, the OCWG will invite additional OGP members to join, support NAP development and implementation, and seek to expand membership to include multilaterals and the private sectorGovernments are working to open private sector practices as well — including through beneficial ownership transparency, open contracting, and regulating environmental standards. Technical specificat... More. It will also prioritize exploring opportunities for collaboration with other OGP working groups, identifying synergies like open data, capacity buildingEnhancing the skills, abilities, and processes of public servants, civil society, and citizens is essential to achieving long-lasting results in opening government. Technical specifications: Set of ac... of parliamentarians, and the tracking of climate finance through open budgets. The OCWG co-chairsThe leadership of the Steering Committee is made up of four co-chairs who provide strategic guidance and support to advance OGP’s overarching priorities. Co-Chairs serve two-year terms beginning on ... specifically will build awareness of how OGP can support countries in meeting their Paris Agreement obligations across the larger climate community.

If you are interested in joining the Working Group, contact Jesse Worker (jworker@wri.org), Eliza Northrop (enorthrop@wri.org) and Arthur Saraiva Ferreira (arthur.saraiva-ferreira@diplomatie.gouv.fr).