Boosting Non-State Climate Action in the European Union

The 2015 Paris Agreement and the accompanying Paris Decision recognise the importance of climate actions by non-state actors, such as businesses, civil society organisations, cities, regions and cooperative initiatives, to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) and to adapt to climate change as necessary complements to governmental commitments. Nonstate actors based in the European Union (EU) can be considered global leaders. However, the implementation of non-state actions is not evenly distributed and are not easy to track.

This paper explores what is necessary to accelerate nonstate actions and enhance their effectiveness in the EU and as a solution suggests that a light-touch framework be implemented to stimulate bottom-up climate actions. This framework should respond to the needs and challenges experienced by a range of stakeholders while building on existing efforts.