Webinar Recap: Advancing Social Accountability in Climate Action – Introducing the Green Accountability Community of Practice

Earlier this year, the Green Accountability Platform hosted a webinar introducing the Green Accountability Community of Practice (CoP). In 2024, World Resources Institute (WRI), SouthSouthNorth (SSN), and Huariou Commission launched the Green Accountability Platform with support from the World Bank’s Global Partnership for Social Accountability (GPSA). The Platform aims to improve the impact and equity of climate finance in the target countries by supporting the integration of community, citizen, and civil society organisation (CSO) feedback into climate finance decision-making. The Platform also encourages collaboration with relevant governmental institutions to influence, implement, and monitor climate finance processes and decisions. SSN is leading the CoP, which is designed to bring together civil society and grassroots organisations, and green accountability actors to foster peer-to-peer learning and knowledge sharing, identify scalable green accountability social innovations, and implement coalition-building strategies. During the webinar, key speakers explored opportunities to enhance transparency, participation, and accountability in climate policy, including climate finance. It also explored opportunities for promoting social accountability in climate action on the Road to Belém, noting the outcomes of COP 29 and the immediate need to strengthen transparency on climate finance.

The main points highlighted by the speakers were:

Effective climate finance requires accountability. There is a need to integrate discussions on accountability and transparency into global climate finance discourse and acknowledge challenges such as funding gaps and closing civic space. SSN Director, Dr Shehnaaz Moosa, introduced that the tensions highlighted at the recent COP29 highlight a persistent power dynamic that continues to reinforce imbalances in climate finance and responsibilities. Aly Zulficar Rahim, Program Manager of the GPSA, highlighted the important role of civil society actors across the spectrum in building citizen action on climate change, emphasizing the need for trust, engagement, and participation in making climate finance effective. Climate finance accountability is crucial for ensuring funds reach those most affected. Rahim noted that enhanced accountability could address the deficit of trust that we are facing, but also could support the inclusion of civil society, not just as listeners or observers, but as a vital source of lessons and knowledge that can contribute to that multilateral space. Glenn Dolcemascolo, Programmes Director of the Huairou Commission, flagged that bridging global frameworks with local community knowledge enhances accountability. Encouraging participation from grassroots organisations ensures transparency and effectiveness.

Strong partnerships and collaboration are needed to address climate justice. Bringing diverse actors, alliances, knowledge and innovations to the table is necessary to broaden ownership of the climate crisis and the solutions needed to tackle global challenges. Dr Francisco Gaetani,  Extraordinary Secretary for State Transformation Brazil, emphasized the need to reframe the discussion on the climate crisis to focus on development, survival, and the future for all. Dr Gaetani used an example from Brazil, noting the polarization of trade discussions favouring predatory growth and lack of environmental preservation. He noted that we are now facing fractured multilateralism and called for new forms of partnerships to push the climate agenda, arguing for the need to expand ownership of this agenda by engaging citizens, interest groups, social movements, businesses, governments, local governments and multilateral institutions.

Climate Governance requires meaningful participation and inclusion of communities in decision-making. Decentralised decision-making that integrates local knowledge and experience leads to responsive adaptation. Without participation and inclusion, interventions will deepen risk and vulnerability. Dr Zoneziwoh Mbondgulo-Wondieh, Executive Director of Women for a Change Cameroon, brought attention to the urgent need for action on climate change, emphasizing the connection between social accountability and strong governance. She emphasised the importance of inclusive climate finance, particularly for vulnerable communities, and the need for gender considerations in climate policy. Violet Shivutsa, Chair and Africa Regional Representative of the Huairou Commission, emphasised that women face challenges in accessing financial and human resources for climate action, with government-controlled funds lacking transparency and public participation. Decentralised climate financing is unclear, and communities are rarely consulted. Grassroots organisations are crucial non-financial resources in climate change adaptation efforts. Their role in mobilising local communities and influencing policies is essential. Md Razu Ahmad Masum, Country Engagement Lead for WRI Bangladesh, noted that the gap between local movements and policy-level decision-making is significant, as seen in Bangladesh’s nationally determined contribution (NDC) revision. Challenges include weak coordination among CSOs, development-driven activism, limited global engagement capacity, and weak accountability mechanisms. Opportunities for action include strengthening CSO collaboration, enhancing transparency in climate finance, bridging the local-global gap, and ensuring political buy-in by institutionalising CSO engagement in national climate planning.

Transparency needs accountability and mechanisms for engagement. Michael Jarvis, Director of the Trust, Accountability, and Inclusion Collaborative (TAI), underscored that accountability is crucial for innovation, governance, and transparency. It serves as a watchdog, service delivery mechanism, and representation mechanism at local, regional, and global levels. Community involvement in climate adaptation projects improves outcomes, leading to efficient budget allocations and better project implementation. Inclusive spaces for civil society, the private sector, and governments are needed for climate accountability. There is a need for broader conversations on how resources are allocated and scaled globally. CSOs must play a more central role in development finance. The balance between private philanthropy and public funding is critical in ensuring sustainable financial solutions. Avelina Ruiz, Climate Change Manager at WRI Mexico, highlighted that transparency in climate finance is crucial, underscoring the importance of tracking financial flows, strengthening government accountability, and empowering civil society to effectively track and influence financial decisions.

Capacity and resources are needed at all levels to build accountability. Sandra Guzmán, Director General of GFLAC Grupo de Financiamiento Climático para Latinoamérica y el Caribe México, emphasised that empowering and resourcing entities at all levels is needed to enhance transparency. Capacity constraints often limit accountability and transparency and have a ripple down effect on meaningful participation and inclusion. Transparency and accountability are key to enhancing trust between stakeholders, but this requires resourcing. Collaboration and partnering are key to unlocking innovation and solutions, but this takes time and money. Knowledge exchange and development, as well as South-South learning, are key tools to enhance policy and practice for accountability. It is also important to understand the connections between financial flows and the needs of diverse stakeholders, and how the current system can be transformed whilst accommodating competing needs. Climate finance may not only be about more money but about ‘better money’ that can be used to take care of communities at all levels.

The webinar reinforced the critical role of accountability, transparency, and participation in climate finance. There is a strong need to strengthen collaboration between civil society and financial institutions, develop inclusive financial mechanisms that cater to vulnerable communities, and enhance global-to-local knowledge sharing on climate finance best practices. The Green Accountability Community of Practice will continue to serve as a hub for peer learning, knowledge sharing, and policy influence to drive meaningful change in climate governance to contribute to the agenda on social accountability for climate finance.

Watch a replay of the discussion here: