Millions of Americans have been impacted by drought, wildfires, flooding, storms, and other extreme weather events. It is predicted that the impacts will become more severe. Cities and other local governments are often on the front lines. As climate disasters increase in frequency and severity, cities with proactive climate policies will be better able to minimize long-term vulnerabilities while delivering near-term benefits.

Intersection of Climate and Democracy

Globally and nationally, the risks that climate change poses to democracy are clear: as the physical impacts of climate change deepen and spread, global competition for resources like water and food, as well as acute climate disasters like storms, fires, and floods, could lead to social unrest and an erosion of trust in institutions.

Yet even as climate tests democracy, evidence suggests that nations with stronger democratic institutions respond to climate change more effectively and rapidly than less democratic countries. Researchers hypothesize that, “In an open and democratic society, people are better placed to access and spread information on climate change, organize and form associations, protest, express opinions and concerns, and mobilize people in a movement demanding climate action.”

Climate stressors–both physical impacts and the economic disruption of the transition to a low-carbon economy–have the potential to exacerbate political polarization. But facing difficult circumstances together and with a recognition of our shared fate, this transition also holds the potential to bring us together. An important implication of this is that climate policies cannot leave communities behind as the transition to a low-carbon economy accelerates and as climate impacts fall unevenly. Investing in this protection and transition will require strong civic infrastructure and social cohesion: it will require a democracy that protects the rights of the few while addressing the priorities of the many.

The Local Policy Lab sees a powerful intersection of climate and democracy, and we are encouraged by the observation that what’s good for the community is often good for the climate: safer streets, more amenities within walking distance, keeping dollars in the local economy, neighbors knowing neighbors, and urban and rural communities recognizing that we need one another. As local communities wrestle with climate change and strive to maintain our core democratic institutions, we look forward to supporting and learning from their innovations.

To that end, LPL is launching a new strand of work to explore how resident engagement and participation activities can simultaneously strengthen democratic institutions and respond to climate change. This will include working with cities individually to effectively engage citizens in the process of tackling climate, simultaneously strengthening democracy. Additionally, we are creating a Climate and Democracy Engagement Strategy Toolkit for cities, which will include tools and templates for topics such as an environmental scan of the political landscape, authentic community engagement, stakeholder mapping, power mapping, historical context, tips for messaging, and more for cities. We will use this toolkit to help cities to put concrete plans together.