This article is written by James Clarke-Lister, Sustainability Strategist at Skyline Partners and former Junior Policy Analyst at Global Affairs Canada, Inter-American Division.

  • The problem: Policy formation for climate action is slow and often fails to incorporate the needs and knowledge of the communities it impacts.
  • Why it matters: This leads to ineffective policies, public backlash, project failures and missed opportunities for meaningful climate action.
  • The solution: Engage communities as valuable partners in the policymaking process to leverage their local knowledge, promote internal capacity building and ensure long-term sustainable change.

It’s no surprise that policy formation is a slow-moving process. That’s why it’s so important that we work to implement policies that will have the largest positive impact. This is especially true when it comes to climate policies that attempt to provide climate mitigation to our communities. Policy indeed plays an important and necessary role in effective climate action. However, the policy process, especially when it comes to climate, is outdated. As history has shown, the list of meaningful climate policies, especially for communities most in need, has largely fallen short. This begs the question: how exactly do we implement community climate policies that make a positive, sustainable difference? The answer lies in the community itself.

Communities yield solutions, not barriers

The paradox of policy implementation is that we are slow to develop a policy but quick to implement it. And the outcome is not always what was originally intended. Oftentimes, many decisions get made throughout the development process without first consulting those whom it will impact. In other words, before we even begin thinking about what policies need to be in place, we must first be able and willing to collaborate with our communities. To do this, we need to shift our mindset in how we view community involvement, especially from a lens of public policy. This means not seeing communities as a barrier but as an opportunity to advance sustainability and climate mitigation through an equitable lens. It means valuing our communities and all the knowledge they hold, and understanding that we can only know so much from an external point of view because no one can know what a community needs more than those who live in it themselves. Most importantly, collaborating with communities, when done right, promotes internal capacity building and individual empowerment — a critical driving force behind impactful long-lasting change. Meaningful community engagement also empowers members to take matters into their own hands and advocate for change on a broader scale. Because when we feel involved, it gives us a sense of being part of something greater than ourselves.

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The importance of community collaboration is also of growing importance when we look at advancements in sustainable technology (i.e. energy storage facilities, solar farms etc.). Although some of these advancements are helpful in reaching our climate goals, one question that often goes overlooked is: where are they being built? As new infrastructure emerges, there will always be communities near these advancements. This is why community engagement is inevitable — because it's essential to engage with the communities impacted by these advancements, as well as by all policies, whether the effects are direct or indirect.

Listen to local wisdom & shift the narrative

While communities are often subject to various development projects, the actual understanding, incorporation and use of local knowledge usually goes overlooked in climate policy implementation. As a result, the local knowledge and wisdom within communities — a significant resource to successful climate action — goes untapped, leading to missed opportunities, public backlash and project failures, which, at the end of the day, are far less effective, costing us more money and longer setbacks — setbacks that we can’t afford to have. If we are to meet our ambitious climate goals, we need to start listening to our communities.

By engaging our communities and working together collaboratively towards a common goal, we can begin to shift the narrative from ‘them vs. us’ to ‘them with us’.

By changing how we approach community engagement in decision-making processes, we not only speed up the rate of effective climate action but also ensure that people are informed, aware and prepared for the change that is to take place. So it’s not only the ethical thing to do, but the most effective approach to establish policies that yield long-term sustainable change. Equally important is that there will often be less backlash and conflict from the communities themselves. Because often, unless we’re working together towards a shared goal and vision, the idea of an ‘us vs. them’ mentality can appear. If a community does not feel like they have been appropriately informed, the risk of potential backlash is more likely to occur. And when everyone isn’t on the same page, the process only becomes longer, with unnecessary barriers standing in the way of meaningful and impactful change. Because the policy process is already so slow, it’s best to avoid any conflict altogether and do everything we can to mitigate it. By engaging our communities and working together collaboratively towards a common goal, we can begin to shift the narrative from ‘them vs. us’ to ‘them with us’. Because at the end of the day, climate change impacts us all — it’s more than a ‘climate’ problem, it’s also a human one.

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