External publications

Global Climate Action 2022: how have international initiatives delivered, and what more is possible

Kuramochi, Takeshi / Sander Chan / Sybrig Smit / Andrew Deneault / Natalie Pelekh
External Publications (2022)

Cologne: NewClimate Institute

Volltext/Full text

This report is the latest stocktake of international cooperative climate action. International cooperative initiatives (ICIs) have been a major feature of international climate governance ever since the UNFCCC started recording them in 2013. These partnerships engage a wide range of non- state and subnational actors, including businesses, investors, civil society, national governments, and international organizations. We identified 601 ICIs launched since 2013 with more than 70,000 instances1 of participation by cities and regions, businesses, and by domestic and international NGOs. The total number of ICIs covered in this study has more than doubled compared to previous analyses as a result of examining outcomes from all major climate summits and campaigns since 2014. The growth of active initiatives (85% of all ICIs launched since 2013) has flattened since 2019. This is partly explained by the expiration of many initiatives that were launched prior or around the UN Climate Conference in Paris in 2015. The outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic may also explain lower growth of new initiatives, especially in 2020.