Contributions of PB to climate change

A report by Yves Cabannes that reviews 15 initiatives that use PB to address climate change adaptation and mitigation. It discusses the contributions, innovations, and challenges of these programs.

This report builds on the contributions from two international sessions on the contributions of participatory budgeting (PB) to climate change adaptation and mitigation. It also draws on PB initiatives in 15 participating cities and regions from different continents. Its first objective is to describe and understand what is actually happening in the field and explore the extent to which PB contributes to climate change adaptation and mitigation, how it does so, and the current challenges facing PB actors.

It assesses the nature and importance of these contributions: Are they marginal or not? How many projects are implemented each year? What do they cost and where do the resources come from? It highlights the numerous innovations that actors have introduced to integrate PB into climate adaptation and mitigation efforts. It finally raises questions for future explorations and advocates for climate-related participatory budgeting, raising awareness of its huge (and as yet largely untapped) potential to help address the dramatic impacts that climate change has on millions of people's lives.

Source: International Observatory on Participatory Democracy
Author information: Yves Cabannes

Year of publication: 2020