From Policy to Local Action: Unlocking the Potential of Local and Regional Governments in the Social Climate Fund

This briefing, based on a survey developed and realised by eight leading European local and regional government networks with their membership (ACR+, CEMR, Climate Alliance, Energy Cities, Eurocities, FEDARENE, ICLEI Europe and POLIS) looks into the multilevel design of national Social Climate Fund plans. It assesses how local and regional governments are informed, consulted and supported by their national governments in the development of national Social Climate Fund Plans. The briefing argues that the level of government closest to citizens, local and regional governments have a huge role to play in developing policies that are adapted to the needs and priorities of local communities. It sheds light on the fact that despite several encouragements from the European Commission to include local governments in the process, the realities on the ground are currently very different.

The survey, which this briefing is based on, is conducted between July and October 2024; this briefing is written in November 2024. The authors of this briefing acknowledge that due to the ongoing planning process, some processes in Member States might have changed since this document was written. However, the variety of experiences from the local level across the EU highlights the lack of systemic involvement of local and regional governments in the design of the national Social Climate Fund Plans.

The responses to the survey varied in results: from significant delays by the national governments in their preparation of the national Social Climate Fund plans, or pre-defining the scope of plans at the national level with simple information sharing with the local level, to proactive outreach to the local level with involvement in the co-design of the process. To avoid top-down measures that could backfire at the local level as they risk not being responsive to the realities on the ground or fail to address the most vulnerable, the European Commission should enhance its monitoring of multilevel design, governance and implementation of the Social Climate Fund plans.