Greater Than the Sum of its Parts

The document advocates for a whole-of-government approach to climate change in Canada to ensure coherent policy implementation across diverse departments. Based on a survey of eight countries and in-depth analysis of the United Kingdom, the United States, and British Columbia, the report outlines five essential requirements for success: sustained executive leadership, adequate funding and mandates, empowered personnel, aligned departmental mandates, and public transparency.

• A whole-of-government approach to climate change allows governments to integrate climate considerations into all policy-making, leverage departmental expertise, reduce redundancies, and create synergies for more effective governance.
• Effective implementation of a whole-of-government climate initiative depends on five primary factors: sustained executive leadership to direct priorities, sufficient funding and capacity, empowered personnel within the structures, alignment of participating departmental mandates, and public transparency regarding progress and research.

APA

Kuehl,, J. M. (2021). Greater Than the Sum of its Parts. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/publications/whole-government-approach-climate-change

Chicago

Kuehl,, Janetta McKenzie,Jonas. Greater Than the Sum of its Parts. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2021. https://www.iisd.org/publications/whole-government-approach-climate-change.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kuehl, |first1=Janetta McKenzie,Jonas |title=Greater Than the Sum of its Parts |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=20 December 2021 |url=https://www.iisd.org/publications/whole-government-approach-climate-change |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kuehl2021greater, author = {Kuehl,, Janetta McKenzie,Jonas}, title = {{Greater Than the Sum of its Parts}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2021}, month = dec, url = {https://www.iisd.org/publications/whole-government-approach-climate-change}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }