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Munich wants to be climate neutral by 2035 and Zurich by 2040 – this puts pressure on the cities to collaborate with civil society, science and business sectors. A recent ICOS Cities case study highlights the importance of transparency, inclusive access and real impact in climate governance in the two cities.
The cities of Munich and Zurich collaborate intensively around climate governance with civil society, business and the scientific sectors through different platforms. In the climate councils or fora, members of civil society get to give feedback on new policies or basically give their opinion on the climate governance of the city.
“They work together to make climate actions more efficient. However, we saw some challenges in this, such as a need for bigger transparency,” says Jessica Dolan, the main writer in the research team in the ICOS Cities project.
"Collaborations with the cities usually start by the snowball method, when you know someone that knows someone that knows someone. This could be improved by a more conscious way of inviting various stakeholders," her research team colleague Barbara Dias Carneiro adds.
The team also found that the impact on decision making could be improved:
”Of course, these are new platforms still searching for the right operation mode. But a lot of times the outside stakeholders said to be a bit frustrated by the lack of impact on city climate action plans that they have through these formats,” says Dias Carneiro.
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