Development Process of the Tool

Presently, the ACE Observatory has convened more than 100 climate governance and capacity-building experts across the world, constituting a diverse group of stakeholders with a wide range of experiences and perspectives. These policymakers, experts-by-experience, thought leaders, academics, businesses, union representatives, and civil society advocates came together to answer the question “What does effective ACE implementation means?”

During an event series in Spring, we kicked off our Global Panel on People-Centered Climate Action to co-design the performance criteria for the determinants of people-centered climate action dimensions:

Climate Competencies. This roundtable discussed the conditions for success needed to develop a nation's climate competencies for a just future that leaves no one behind and redistributes climate action benefits/co-benefits. It encompassed the areas of workforce development, technical skills training, climate action-oriented education, participatory research, public awareness, and technology transfer.

Public Participation. This roundtable discussed the enabling environment for participatory decision-making design and implementation for a climate just development. It focused on the autonomies and transformations do we need to ensure ongoing, direct engagement of civil society and stakeholders for a relational and participatory governance.

Transparency and Accountability. This roundtable focused on the right-to-know and how countries can build social trust through their climate action, including the systems for disclosure (i.e risks), accountability, and access to justice that should be in place for a participatory governance to work.

Feasibility. This discussion centered around ensuring technical, financial, and networking means are scaling, connecting, and targeting the communities/initiatives leading the work on the ground.

Through four days of animated discussion, these experts determined 146 key benchmarks and capacities for climate empowerment performance and a series of capacities needed to reach the level of performance desired. These benchmarks and capacities make up the ACE Observatory ACE Performance Benchmarking Framework.