Collaborative action in long-term climate strategies

Slovenia and Chile present insights into the integration of subnational governments into the national climate governance frameworks.

Taking into account subnational actors’ priorities in the process of developing national climate strategies (NDCs and LTS) is crucial for ensuring a successful implementation and achievement of the objectives. Generating acceptance and buy-in at the local level, through collaborative climate action, might sound straightforward. However, in practice, such process of including the different voices of subnational governments and stakeholders in the development of more ambitious climate action plans might not come easy. While national governments are usually responsible for the drafting of the climate strategies, the subnational actors primarily lead the implementation..

Experiences from Chile and Slovenia

A recent virtual discussion hosted by the Low-Emission Development Strategies Global Partnership (LEDS GP) and the Climate Policy Meets Urban Development (CPMUD) project shed light upon examples of the inclusion of subnational actors in processes and consultations for the development of long-term climate strategies. Katarina Trstenjak, expert from the Jožef Stefan Institute, and Jordan Harris, coordinator of the subnational government and climate action at COP25, shared their experience working at the interface between national and subnational governments in Slovenia and Chile.

Both countries put renewed emphasis on the inclusion of subnational governments and stakeholders e.g. from business, academia and civil society into developing and updating their national climate strategies.

In the process of drafting its Long-Term Strategy (LTS), Slovenia, a country of two million inhabitants and a total of 2012 municipalities, has set up a comprehensive consultative process spanning over two years with a total of 27 workshops and two events. The events served as a platform for discussion and exchange on policy instruments for improved transparency of monitoring and accountability of tracking. In this context, Slovenia is currently piloting local balance scorecards where its municipalities can track their climate performances along sectoral indicators.

Chile, with almost 18 million inhabitants and historically highly centralized political-administrative structure, developed a comprehensive multi-level governance framework in recent years. Elements include Regional Climate Change Committees, acting as focal points to promote the participation of local and regional actors to plan and implement climate policies closely collaborating with the national line ministries. In addition, Chile established regional greenhouse gas inventories facilitating regional tracking and course correction of mitigation measures.

The LEDS GP and the Partnership for Collaborative Climate Action are hosted by the "Support Project for the Implementation of the Paris Agreement (SPA)" and Climate Policy Meets Urban Development (CPMUD), respectively.