Open Government for the Green Transition

1. Mobilising open government principles for meaningful citizen participation in the green transition

Abstract

This introductory chapter provides a general framework for this report. It presents the key findings and data that oriented its development, particularly the simultaneity of the climate and environmental crisis and a global crisis of trust in government highlighted by OECD reports. It shows the potential of open government principles and practices to address these two crises and re-engage citizens in the green transition and presents the analytical approach and objectives of this report.

1.1. Tackling climate change: a challenge of openness and inclusion for governments aiming at effective, publicly supported policies

The environmental issue, and in particular climate change, represents one of the greatest challenges facing our societies and governments. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)'s sixth assessment report, published in March 2023, highlights the urgency of taking action, noting that greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted by human activities have warmed the climate at an unprecedented rate. The global surface temperature has risen by 1.1°C relative to 1850–1900. These disruptions are having significant impact on ecosystems and societies, including an increase in extreme weather events, threats to biodiversity, health risks linked to pollution, rising food insecurity and water shortages. These developments call for the urgent implementation of both mitigation1 and adaptation measures2 across all dimensions, in order to achieve a so-called "green" economic and social transition that is effective, fair and equitable, in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 (OECD, 2012[1]; United Nations, 2015[2]).

Knowing the urgency, the expectations of citizens3 and civil society for global environmental and climate action are growing, requiring that interconnected issues such as pollution, biodiversity loss and natural resource management be addressed to ensure a sustainable and resilient future for all. The OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions, published in July 2024, reveals that 69% of respondents believe reducing greenhouse gas emissions should be a government priority. While this figure is significant, it should be emphasised that this priority ranks below other priorities identified in the survey, such as guaranteeing equal opportunities, creating the conditions for businesses to prosper, and reducing public debt. This may partly explain the relative slowness of climate and environmental action despite the urgency of these issues (OECD, 2024[3]). At the same time, this survey shows that citizens have limited trust (albeit slightly higher than the previous edition) in the government's ability to adequately respond to strategic policy issues at the intersection of national and global governance that involve long-term consequences or difficult trade-offs, such as climate change (OECD, 2024[3]). Furthermore, almost 38% of respondents doubted government’s ability to use the best evidence, research and statistical data to make decisions, which is all the more crucial when it comes to the environment (OECD, 2024[3]). Finally, only 37% of respondents have trust in government’s ability of to reconcile intergenerational interests (OECD, 2024[3]).

Thus, the global environmental and climate crisis goes hand in hand with a lack of trust in the ability of governments to respond effectively to the needs of their citizens (OECD, 2022[4]). In democratic systems, this can take the form of low participation rates or a growing disengagement of citizens from democratic processes, which puts institutions to the test and hinders governments' ability to address the social, economic, and climate challenges they face.

These two crises are indeed interconnected due to the interdependence between the level of public trust and the effectiveness of action on climate and environmental issues. Survey results indicate that the most powerful factors for strengthening citizens’ trust in governments are linked to complex, global, and long-term policy challenges — as these are the areas where the public most often feels they have little real voice, and where decisions are perceived to be driven by private interests rather than by reliable data and evidence serving the public good. Addressing this dual challenge therefore requires a profound transformation of public governance, with public administrations that better take into account citizens’ interests and needs, and that actively involve them as partners (OECD, 2022[5]).

According to OECD recommendations, this necessary shift towards a “more diffuse and shared conception of democratic governance” (OECD, 2022[5]) requires, on the one hand, to strengthen democratic representation (greater representativeness of elected bodies, diversification of the civil service, etc.), and on the other hand, to create the conditions for more inclusive and effective citizen participation through open government – which is the focus of this report (OECD, 2022[6]). Indeed, improving citizen participation and their influence over decision-making processes is identified in the Survey as a key reform priority, with only 30% of respondents feeling they have a say in decision-making at the national level (OECD, 2024[3]).

Given the complexity of the green transition challenges, involving citizens and stakeholders in the design, implementation, and monitoring of climate and environmental policies is of critical importance. The effectiveness of green policies is closely linked to their acceptance, ownership, and implementation by various stakeholders (businesses, civil society, citizens, etc.), including the most vulnerable, as these policies largely depend on behavioural changes and shifts in production and consumption patterns (Rozo Rincon, Kirchhofer and Almuzaini, 2022[7]; OECD, 2025[8]). To be supported and implemented, the measures taken must be understood by citizens and perceived as fair, particularly in a context where the ecological transition will, in the short term, produce both winners and losers (OECD, 2022[5]).

The OECD's Action Plan on Governing Green calls on governments to "promote meaningful and two-way dialogue that enhances opportunities for stakeholder exchange and promotes effective citizen participation in the decision-making process for climate action and the green transition, including through innovative processes such as deliberative democracy mechanisms" (OECD, 2022[9]), thus underlining the decisive role of participation in the green transition. Similarly, as early as 1992, the declaration of the Rio Earth Summit stated that "environmental issues are best handled with the participation of all concerned citizens, at the relevant level". The 2015 Paris Agreement calls on countries to take measures to "enhance [...] public awareness, public participation and public access to information, recognising the importance of these steps with respect to enhancing actions under this Agreement" (art. 12).

Yet, while many initiatives have already been implemented to involve citizens in decision-making and action on policies addressing the climate emergency, few have succeeded in significantly shifting the landscape of governance and collective decision-making. The absence of a comprehensive and integrated approach to the various mechanisms and levers that enable the involvement of citizens and stakeholders throughout the climate policy cycle limits the long-term transformative impact of these initiatives on the governance of the green transition and citizens’ ownership of it.

1.2. Open government principles to support the green transition

The contribution of open government principles – defined in the OECD Recommendation on Open Government as "a culture of governance that promotes the principles of transparency, integrity, accountability and stakeholder participation in support of democracy and inclusive growth" (OECD, 2017[10]) – to strengthening democracy, citizens' trust in public institutions and the quality and effectiveness of policies has long been recognised, as highlighted by the OECD's Reinforcing Democracy Initiative (OECD, 2023[11]).

Similarly, several international instruments, such as the Aarhus Convention (1998), the Paris Agreement (2015) and the Escazú Agreement (2021), explicitly recognise the importance of better access to information and greater public participation in environmental decision-making processes to ensure the relevance and effectiveness of the decisions taken. The potential of open government principles to support climate action is also underlined by the Open Government Partnership (OGP), which indicated wanting to take forward its action on climate change as part of its 2023–2028 Strategy (Open Government Partnership, 2023[12]).

The OECD Recommendation on Open Government recognises that open government reforms, initiatives and practices play a key role in improving the development and delivery of public policies and services, ensuring citizen engagement, and strengthening the legitimacy of decision-making (OECD, 2024[13]). Beyond buy-in and acceptance, the integrated implementation of the principles of transparency, participation and accountability has the potential to bring the green transition within reach of citizens and stakeholders, thus enabling real understanding and ownership of the issues and new actions at all levels, towards a "whole-of society" approach to the green transition that supports society’s transformation and resilience.

Access to information and open data allows citizens to have all the information needed to make informed decisions and monitor governments' actions (or inaction) to address to the climate crisis. In addition, effective, inclusive and accessible public communication enables society as a whole to combat misinformation, encourage the active participation of citizens, promote changes in behaviour and, ultimately, build trust and effectively mobilise citizens.

Similarly, involving citizens and stakeholders in the formulation of climate policies an help achieve otherwise difficult compromises, avoid or overcome certain obstacles, and engage all actors in the collective effort needed to address environmental challenges. It also enables governments to benefit from citizens’ knowledge and experience to approach problems from citizens' perspectives and leading to solutions that are better tailored to their needs (OECD, 2022[5]). Furthermore, citizen participation can help address the shortcomings of democratic institutions in incorporating long-term considerations into their functioning and decision-making, moving beyond the limitations of electoral cycles and the often short-term thinking they encourage (Smith, 2017[14]). Moreover, the effectiveness of these initiatives depends on a protected civic space, which allows citizens and civil society to engage meaningfully (OECD, 2022[15]). Open climate data, for example, only contributes to greater transparency if citizens can freely access, use and scrutinise them. Similarly, participation in shaping green policies is undermined if environmental associations are unable to operate freely, are arbitrarily dissolved, or if climate activists face prosecution or threats. The growing number of attacks on environmental activists worldwide highlights the urgent need for robust frameworks to protect them.4 Moreover, climate and environmental issues often inspire citizens to participate through non-institutionalised means, such as protests and social movements (Corry and Reiner, 2020[16]). While the study of these non-institutionalised forms of participation lies beyond the scope of this report, the way governments engage with such movements has a direct impact on public trust, credibility, and the legitimacy of climate and environmental action. Understanding the root causes of these protest movements and engaging in constructive dialogue with their participants can help enrich societal debate on environmental and climate issues, promote dialogue between citizens and governments, and help channel and reconnect these forms of civic expression to formal decision-making processes through appropriate institutional channels.

1.3. Identifying good practices in applying open government principles to the green transition

This report aims to identify innovative and promising open government initiatives from a selection of OECD member and partner countries that have actively involved citizens and civil society in the green transition. The analysis of the initiatives presented in this report allows for the identification of levers and good practices that are helping to establish more participatory and inclusive green governance.

The participatory processes examined in this report are varied: they may be formal or informal, institutionalised or ad hoc, held in person, virtual or hybrid, and can take many forms – from open green data initiatives to innovative practices such as deliberative processes or commons-based approaches. However, particular attention has been paid, on the one hand, to the inclusion of marginalised and vulnerable groups, which remains a common challenge in citizen participation efforts, and on the other hand, to the replicability of the processes studied. Indeed, although these initiatives often respond to specific objectives and contexts, the aim of this study – beyond highlighting good practices – is to promote their wider adoption and encourage governments to draw inspiration from them and take ownership.

This document is structured around the three levels of participation defined in the OECD Recommendation on Open Government, which differ according to the degree of involvement and impact that citizens and stakeholders can have on the final decision (see Box ‎1.1). However, these three levels do not constitute a rigid scale, as the boundaries between them are not always clearly defined. Indeed, from access to information to co-decision and co-management processes, a range of mechanisms exist to ensure that citizens and stakeholders are involved in the decision-making process and contribute to defining and implementing climate action. These three levels need to be considered in a holistic, dynamic, and integrated manner to have a tangible impact on climate governance and ensure meaningful engagement of citizens and stakeholders.

Box ‎1.1. The OECD participation levels as an analytical framework for open government initiatives supporting the climate transition

Information is defined as an initial level of participation characterised by a one-way relationship in which government produces and provides information to stakeholders. It covers both on-demand provision of information and “proactive” measures by the government to disseminate information and make it accessible and understandable. In the context of the green transition, access to green data enables citizens to monitor and assess the risks associated with climate change (pollution levels, greenhouse gas emissions, etc.), to identify the key issues, but also to hold governments accountable for their climate commitments (OECD, 2023[17]). By providing a better understanding of climate and environmental challenges, access to information also leads to greater acceptance of green policies and greater public involvement in their implementation (OECD, 2023[17]). Finally, open information and data are essential in enabling citizens and stakeholders to contribute to developing solutions and public policies in response to environmental challenges.

Consultation is a more advanced level of participation that entails a two-way relationship in which stakeholders provide feedback to the government and vice-versa.  It is based on the prior definition of the issue for which views are being sought and requires the provision of relevant information, in addition to feedback on the outcomes of the process. Given the scale of the changes required and the complexity of the issues involved in tackling the climate emergency, governments need to draw on the knowledge and experience of a wide range of actors (scientists, private sector, citizens, etc.) (OECD, 2022[5]). Consultation processes enable governments to improve their environmental policies by drawing on the expertise of other stakeholders (including the user expertise of citizens), understanding their needs and anticipating potential conflicts and blockages (OECD, 2022[5]).

Engagement corresponds to a level of participation where all stakeholders are given the opportunity and the necessary resources (e.g. information, data and digital tools) to collaborate during all phases of the policy-cycle and in the service design and delivery. Citizens and stakeholders are then invited to co-create green policies and associated public services through mechanisms such as green participatory budgets or deliberative processes. This involvement of citizens can go even further with the emergence of shared and collaborative governance systems inspired by the commons: beyond co-creation, genuine co-decision and co-management with citizens and stakeholders are then put in place.

Source: (OECD, 2017[10])

References

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Notes

← 1.  Mitigation refers to "any action taken by governments, businesses or people to reduce or prevent greenhouse gases, or to enhance carbon sinks that remove them from the atmosphere (UNDP, 2024[18]).

← 2.  Climate adaptation refers to actions that help reduce vulnerability to the current or expected impacts of climate change like weather extremes and hazards, sea-level rise, biodiversity loss, or food and water insecurity (UNDP, 2024[19]).

← 3.  Defined by the OECD (OECD, 2022[21]) as "individuals, regardless of their age, gender, sexual orientation, religious, and political affiliations. The term is meant in the larger sense of "an 'inhabitant of a particular place', which can be in reference to a village, town, city, region, state, or country depending on the context. It is not meant in the more restrictive sense of 'a legally recognised national of a state'. In this larger sense, it is equivalent of people."

← 4.  According to Global Witness, at least 1910 environmental activists were killed between 2012 and 2022 (Global Witness, 2023[20]).