Promoting Public Participation in Climate Policies

This briefing note from the Center for International Environmental Law outlines the international legal frameworks and specific UNFCCC entry points for promoting public participation and access to information in climate policies. It emphasizes the need for procedural rights to prevent harm to communities, particularly within the mechanisms of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, and suggests ways to enhance the inclusivity of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and the intergovernmental negotiating process.

• International frameworks, including the UNFCCC, the Paris Agreement, and the 1992 Rio Declaration, establish a commitment to public participation in environmental decision-making. Specifically, UNFCCC article 6 promotes public access to information and participation in climate policies, while Paris Agreement article 12 commits Parties to enhance these elements. Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration asserts that "environmental issues are best handled with participation of all concerned citizens, at the relevant level".
• Two regional instruments provide legally binding obligations for public participation: the Aarhus Convention, which applies to 47 UNFCCC Parties from Europe and Central Asia (and Guinea Bissau), and the Escazú Agreement, adopted by 24 UNFCCC Parties from Latin America and the Caribbean. The Escazú Agreement is notably the first legal instrument to establish a framework for the protection of environmental defenders.
• Decisions from COP-24 integrated public participation into several climate governance mechanisms. These include guidelines for NDCs that invite information on engagement with indigenous peoples and local communities, the operationalization of the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform, and an agreement that the Global Stocktake be an "open, inclusive, and transparent process".
• The Sustainable Development Mechanism (SDM) under Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement must implement robust procedural rights to avoid the failures of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The CDM's lack of rules for meaningful community consultation and remedy led to the approval of "unsustainable projects that cause significant harm". Consequently, the SDM should require local stakeholder consultation from project design through implementation and establish an independent, rights-based grievance redress mechanism.
• The briefing identifies opportunities to enhance inclusivity in national planning and intergovernmental processes. It suggests that the review of the Doha Work Programme and the Gender Action Plan should prioritize the empowerment of women and listed groups. Furthermore, it argues that observer organizations in the UNFCCC process have "very limited opportunities" to directly influence specific contact groups and informals, calling for presiding officers to more systematically seek civil society interventions.
• The process of updating Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by 2020 and developing long-term decarbonization strategies provides a critical window for Parties to ensure policies are "owned" by the public. The document recommends that Parties communicate the specific methods used to ensure effective public participation alongside their NDCs to facilitate the exchange of good practices.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2019). Promoting Public Participation in Climate Policies. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/PromotingParticipation_EntryPoints_SB50_final-1.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. Promoting Public Participation in Climate Policies. 2019. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/PromotingParticipation_EntryPoints_SB50_final-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=Promoting Public Participation in Climate Policies |date=June 2019 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/PromotingParticipation_EntryPoints_SB50_final-1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2019promoting, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{Promoting Public Participation in Climate Policies}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2019}, month = jun, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/PromotingParticipation_EntryPoints_SB50_final-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }