Multi-Level Governance in (Climate) Action – Co-creating policy solutions to tackle climate change

Multi-Level Governance (MLG) is an essential ingredient for modern, comprehensive policy- making1 applicable at any level, from local up to EU policies (and, of course, even beyond Europe). It can strengthen a variety of processes, especially supporting and accelerating climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as effectively tackling energy poverty, providing a coherent framework for the just transition and enhancing many other crucial issues. When addressing the scale and scope of solutions necessary to address the complex global challenge of climate change, effective MLG is a key asset to accelerate cost-effective and socially inclusive actions.

As a vital tool for augmenting the development of policies at all levels, MLG is especially suitable for climate action processes. It is as applicable to the creation and implementation of comprehensive policies as it is to those addressing individual topics such as emissions, mitigation, energy, mobility, adaptation, resilience, etc.

By adopting the MLG recommendations found in this publication, policy- making processes will benefit from worthwhile, multi-faceted effects, such as:

• meaningful dialogues through transparent, proactive communication;
• diverse contributions leading to a sense of broad stakeholder ownership; and
• long-term legitimacy and broad willingness to engage into the future.