Title page 1

Contents 7

Foreword 7

Acknowledgements 7

Abbreviations and Acronyms 7

Executive summary 7

1. Mobilising open government principles for meaningful citizen participation in the green transition 13

1.1. Tackling climate change: a challenge of openness and inclusion for governments aiming at effective, publicly supported policies 14

1.2. Open government principles to support the green transition 15

1.3. Identifying good practices in applying open government principles to the green transition 16

References 18

Notes 19

2. Informing and communicating effectively to involve citizens in a fair green transition 20

2.1. Creating and implementing a legal framework guaranteeing access to environmental information 22

2.1.1. Defining and explicitly including environmental issues in the legal framework 22

2.1.2. Broadening the definition of "public authorities" to prevent the capture of environmental information by private actors 23

2.1.3. Reinforcing norms and practices for the proactive disclosure of environmental information 25

2.2. Mobilising green open data 26

2.2.1. Adopting a global strategy on green open data and defining priority data 27

2.2.2. Streamlining access to open green data and guaranteeing its accessibility 28

2.2.3. Involving stakeholders and citizens in the collection and re-use of green open data 29

2.3. Public communication to support the green agenda 33

2.3.1. Strategic communication to promote understanding of a complex and multidimensional climate crisis 34

2.3.2. Addressing the polarisation of climate discourse through public communication 39

2.3.3. Encouraging targeted behavioural change and mobilising the population in all its diversity 42

2.3.4. Crisis communication to respond to extreme climate and environmental events and support adaptation efforts 46

2.4. From One-Way Information to Two-Way Citizen Participation in the Green Transition 47

References 48

Notes 52

3. Consulting citizens and stakeholders to strengthen the relevance and legitimacy of green policies 54

3.1. Strengthening governance frameworks for the green agenda to embed public consultation 57

3.1.1. Significant improvements in legal and regulatory frameworks 57

3.1.2. Consultation as a tool for improving public policy 59

3.1.3. The role of independent bodies in ensuring effective citizen participation 60

3.2. Strengthening the link between consultation processes and decision-making 62

3.2.1. Engaging and consulting citizens and stakeholders throughout the green policy cycle 62

3.2.2. Some governments have established permanent climate consultation mechanisms, primarily focused on stakeholders 64

3.3. Strengthening public ownership of green policies and citizen engagement through more inclusive consultation processes 65

3.3.1. Using digital technologies to broaden citizen consultation and create structured exchange spaces 66

3.3.2. Combining in-person and digital formats enhances the inclusiveness of public consultations 68

3.3.3. Creating dedicated consultation mechanisms to enable the participation of communities excluded from public decision-making 70

3.3.4. Consulting young people to ensure their voice is reflected in the development of climate policies that will affect them the most 72

3.4. Moving beyond consultation 75

References 75

Notes 78

4. Participation beyond consultation can ensure active citizen engagement in the green agenda 79

4.1. Green participatory budgeting: A bridge between participation and climate action 80

4.1.1. The development of green participatory budgets 80

4.1.2. From participation to action: Citizen involvement in green participatory budgeting 81

4.1.3. Making green participatory budgets more inclusive 82

4.2. Deliberative processes to help governments respond to climate challenges in a sustainable and collective manner 84

4.2.1. The benefits of civic lotteries and deliberation for addressing climate challenges 85

4.2.2. Demonstrated effectiveness in building citizen capacity and engagement 85

4.2.3. Key challenges call for improvements to strengthen the impact and relevance of deliberative processes 87

4.3. From the micro-local to global climate governance: exploring new frontiers of citizen engagement in the green transition 91

4.3.1. Collaborative governance and commons-based practices as drivers of action at the micro-local level 91

4.3.2. Involving citizens in global climate governance 94

References 99

5. Conclusion: Towards integrated, effective and meaningful citizen participation in the green transition 103

5.1. The benefits of moving towards a more integrated approach to open government and citizen participation in the green transition 104

5.1.1. Considering citizen engagement throughout the public policy cycle 104

5.1.2. Strengthening coordination and coherence of participation initiatives across levels of governance 106

5.1.3. Embedding open government principles in green governance 106

5.2. Towards truly effective and meaningful citizen participation 107

References 108

Notes 109

Tables 8

Table 3.1. Differences and benefits of citizens' and stakeholders' consultation on green policies 55

Table 4.1. Examples of deliberative processes on specific sustainable development goals related to the environment 89

Figures 8

Figure 2.1. Example of a theory of change of public communication for the green transition 37

Figure 3.1. Ten-step path for planning and implementing a citizen participation process 57

Figure 5.1. Informing, communication, consulting and actively engaging citizens throughout the policy cycle 105

Boxes 8

Box 1.1. The OECD participation levels as an analytical framework for open government initiatives supporting the climate transition 17

Box 2.1. The definition of environmental information in Chile's environmental framework law 23

Box 2.2. The definition of "public authorities" in article 2 of the Aarhus Convention 24

Box 2.3. The Pollutant Release and Transfer Register in Mexico 25

Box 2.4. Improving norms for the proactive publication of information in Georgia 26

Box 2.5. Benchmarking Chile's Climate Data Strategy Against the Open Data Charter Framework 27

Box 2.6. The creation of a climate change information platform (2017-2019) in Argentina 29

Box 2.7. Green open data for accessible environmental information 29

Box 2.8. The co-creation of the Buenos Aires (Argentina) platform on climate change (2019-2020) 30

Box 2.9. The Open Data Climate Action Challenge in Dublin, Ireland 31

Box 2.10. Citizen Science for Pollution Data Collection on Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania 31

Box 2.11. DARAJA, an inclusive prevention and early warning service set up in a participatory manner in Kenya and Tanzania 32

Box 2.12. A strategic and integrated approach to public communication on the green agenda in Ireland 36

Box 2.13. Radio and SMS campaign to promote water hygiene in Uganda 38

Box 2.14. Strengthening the skills of local journalists and media for improved climate coverage in East Africa 40

Box 2.15. OECD good practice principles for public communication responses to mis- and disinformation 41

Box 2.16. The use of public communication to counter disinformation regarding contaminated water and seafood in Korea 42

Box 2.17. Audience segmentation for a multichannel youth campaign in Indonesia 43

Box 2.18. A toolkit to reengage the different segments of the British public on climate change 44

Box 2.19. Using behavioural science to reduce household energy consumption in the UK 45

Box 2.20. Encouraging urgent energy consumption reductions in Japan during supply crisis 47

Box 3.1. National dialogue for the development of the water resources law in Costa Rica (2002-2004) 58

Box 3.2. Embedding Public Consultation in Law (Examples from Canada and Bulgaria) 59

Box 3.3. National Consultation for Brazil's Climate Plan 60

Box 3.4. Réflexion 2050 - Public Consultation on Montréal's City Vision: Towards a New Urban and Mobility Plan 61

Box 3.5. Consultations held during key moments in climate policy development in Türkiye and Salvador (Brazil) 62

Box 3.6. National consultation to strengthen participatory mechanisms on environmental issues in Chile 63

Box 3.7. Permanent consultative bodies on climate 65

Box 3.8. The "Brasil Participativo" platform in Brazil 67

Box 3.9. Decidim - An open-source digital tool used for climate consultations 67

Box 3.10. The Better Reykjavik consultation platform 68

Box 3.11. Hybrid consultation models in Lille (France) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) 69

Box 3.12. General consultation mechanism for indigenous peoples in Costa Rica 71

Box 3.13. Los Angeles Climate Emergency Mobilisation Commission 72

Box 3.14. The Danish Youth Climate Council 73

Box 3.15. Inclusion of the principle of intergenerational equity in Peru's Climate Law following youth consultations 73

Box 3.16. Youth-driven solutions for more inclusive and sustainable urban mobility in Cambodia 74

Box 4.1. At the regional level: The ecological and solidarity-based participatory budget of the Île-de-France region (France) 81

Box 4.2. Libson's Green participatory budget 82

Box 4.3. Support sessions for project initiators in Bordeaux's participatory budget on climate challenges (2024) 83

Box 4.4. The Youth Climate Participatory Budget in Molina de Segura, Spain (2020) 84

Box 4.5. The learning phase: multiple formats to raise awareness of climate issues 86

Box 4.6. Using opinion mapping technology to connect Austria's Citizens' Climate Assembly with the wider public 88

Box 4.7. El Pacto Inter-ciudad by (Re)surgentes: A pact between four Latin American cities to tackle climate change 88

Box 4.8. Bogotá's itinerant citizens' assembly (Colombia): A deliberative body closely connected to formal decision-making structures 91

Box 4.9. Urban commons in the city of Bologna (Italy) 92

Box 4.10. The Assembly of the Commons in Lille (France) 93

Box 4.11. Community forest management to combat deforestation (Nepal) 94

Box 4.12. The Regional Public Mechanism for sustained public involvement under the Escazú Agreement 96

Box 4.13. Multichannel and multilingual citizen participation mechanism at the European Union level to involve citizens in shaping the future of Europe 96

Box 4.14. The Global Citizens' Assembly on Climate 97