Uneven progress
However, the report also reveals a downside, as the progress made is uneven. Chan: ‘Many initiatives deliver regular activities, yet others struggle to maintain momentum. Adaptation, water and ocean-related efforts remain comparatively underrepresented, a mismatch with the rising impacts of climate change. This is out of proportion to the increasing impacts of climate change. In addition, leadership is still concentrated among well-resourced organisations in Europe and North America, while actors from lower-income countries, as well as Indigenous peoples and local communities, remain largely absent from decision-making processes. In other words, most on-the-ground implementation takes place in the richer countries, while the climate risks are highest in the Global South.’
Voluntary climate action at a crossroads
Chan and co-authors warn against these gaps. 'It limits the impact of what could be a powerful force for global climate cooperation. In our view, voluntary climate action is at a crossroads. Over the past decade, a diverse and energetic ecosystem has emerged, but to live up to its potential, it must become more inclusive, geographically balanced and better aligned with the world's most urgent climate needs. It is therefore conveys the need for coordinated efforts across governments, businesses, scientists, local communities and civil society.
The situation outlined by the authors is in line with the local metaphor of COP30 'global mutirão'. In Brazil, a mutirão is a community effort where neighbours work together to repair a house, restore farmland or clean a communal space because the job is too big for one household alone. It is practical, collective and rooted in solidarity.
*) The study is based on the CoAct Database, an international research project jointly developed by the ACHIEVE, BioCAM4, and CAMDA projects, an international research initiative, that tracks hundreds of cross-border climate initiatives. CoAct collects public information on who is involved, what they aim to do and where they operate. It provides the first broad, data-driven overview of how cities, companies, NGOs, Indigenous groups and other actors have mobilised outside the formal UN negotiations.
