Collaborate with Civil Society on Climate and Sustainable Development (FR0029)

STAKES In addition to the international agreement expected in Paris, concrete initiatives bringing together governments and non-governmental actors could be developed. This “Agenda of Solutions” 37, aims to support and intensify the commitments of States in reducing greenhouse gases, in adapting to the impact of climate disruption and in funding these actions.

CONTEXT & AIM Numerous initiatives will be promoted in this agenda. Amongst them, a major innovation process has begun in France, the C3 or "Climate Change Challenge" (http://c3challenge.com) initiative. C3 aims to stimulate the emergence of innovations promoting the use of data and services. The program seeks to create a lasting effect over time, stimulating and organizing collaboration between entities owning information and know-how and data reusers (public and private economic actors, regions, general public) in order to: • Bring forward innovative solutions related to understanding, prevention and adaptation to climate change; • Raise public awareness on climate change and turn the public into actors involved in the challenge; • Open and organize the dialogue between stakeholders in climate change in a participatory approach; • Allow the collaborative involvement of everyone in the search for solutions to the problems and opportunities caused by climatic change; • Discover and test new strategies for the provision of data, knowledge and know-how

ROADMAP
• Launch and organize the first stages of the C3 operation throughout 2015
• Reward the winners of the C3 operation during the COP21 Conference
- Laureates of the C3 challenge organized in parallel by the Mexican government will also be present in Paris
• Continue the operation in 2016 and 2017
- Monitor and support the best innovative projects capitalize on the best challenges to issue new calls for proposal, perpetuate online tools for expression by citizens

26. Initiate new collaborations with civil society to develop innovative solutions to meet the challenges of climate and sustainable development

Commitment Text:

ROADMAP

· Launch and organize the first stages of the C3 operation throughout 2015

· Reward the winners of the C3 operation during the COP21 Conference

o Laureates of the C3 challenge organized in parallel by the Mexican government will also be present in Paris

· Continue the operation in 2016 and 2017

o Monitor and support the best innovative projects capitalize on the best challenges to issue new calls for proposal, perpetuate online tools for expression by citizens

Editorial Note: This is a partial version of the commitment text. For the full commitment text please see France's national action plan: https://bit.ly/2MTYhsR.

Responsible Institutions: Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, Ministry of State for State Reform and Simplification, attached to the Prime Minister; Météo France; Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN); Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES)

Supporting Institution(s): N/A

Start Date:Not Specified

End Date: 2017

Commitment Aim

The C3 (Climate Change Challenge) is an international initiative to mobilise citizens, public and private actors and experts to take action on climate change. This commitment aimed to organise meetings and a competition to foster collaboration to come up with innovative solutions for climate change and sustainable development. These activities were launched in May 2015 in preparation for COP21 and occurred in four different French cities for three major milestones: a vision camp, which includes collaborative creativity workshops on climate change needs, a challenge workshop to clarify and enrich ideas and challenges, and an innovation hackathon to develop selected solutions.

Status

Midterm: Substantial

This commitment was substantially implemented by the midterm. The first stages of C3 operation were launched and the winners of the C3 challenge were awarded during COP21. This momentum continued with the “100 projects for the climate” competition.

The three stages of C3, which consist of organising three workshops, are: the expression of needs; the clarification of needs into actionable projects; and a hackathon to develop the ideas identified in phase 2. Those stages were carried out in four cities (Paris, Lyon, Toulouse and Nantes) in 2015. However, two of these meetings were held before the publication of the action plan on 15 July 2015. The first stage of C3, “Vision Camp,” was launched in May 2015, the second stage, “Challenge Workshop”, was held 7-9 July 2015, and the third stage, “Innovation Jam,” occurred 6-8 November 2015.

The first stage resulted in identifying eight priority themes, ranging from biodiversity to health and the economy. The second stage consisted of workshops that clarified the problems identified during the first stage using the open datasets published by the government and shaping them into solvable challenges. The third stage, Innovation Jam, was a hackathon where teams with multiple areas of expertise had to develop solutions in 36 hours. These three workshops were attended by citizens, students, experts, and public and private sector representatives. During the events, more than 200 people participated through 29 teams.

In 2016, the Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Marine Affairs issued two calls for best projects on energy consumption and biodiversity. A dedicated website was created enabling citizens to vote for the 100 best projects fighting climate change. The winners were selected in July 2016. The project covered a wide range of environmental issues, including reforestation, poverty reduction, sustainable agriculture, waste collection, prevention of food waste, recycling, clean cookstoves, threats to biodiversity, fair trade, green transportation, electric cars, and sustainable energy.

End of Term: Substantial

This commitment is still considered substantially implemented by the end-of-term. Most activities of the commitment were completed during the first year of implementation. The C3 initiative was scheduled to be implemented in 2015 and the winners of the challenges were to be announced during COP21. The momentum was planned to be extended into the second year of implementation but the lack of specificity in the commitment makes it difficult to gauge completion. Building on the momentum of COP 21, “100 projects for climate” aimed to encourage citizen-led initiatives to combat global warming. The initiative enabled citizens to vote for their 100 favourite innovative solutions from around the world. The selected projects were presented at COP22 in Marrakesh, held on 7-18 November 2016.

Did It Open Government?

Access to Information: Did Not Change

Civic Participation: Did Not Change

This commitment was considered to be relevant for access to information and civic participation. However, the activities undertaken as part of this commitment concerned civic participation far more than access to information. Even regarding civic participation, the activities were time-bound and the government did not play a leading role. As such, this commitment did not open government regarding access to information or civic participation.

This commitment encouraged a participatory approach to environmental issues and promoted civil society-led solutions. However, the activities were timebound and it is unclear if they contributed to permanent changes in government practices. In addition, the “100 projects for climate” is an international initiative led by France and it is hard to identify engagement of the French government beyond this coordination.

Carries Forward?

This commitment was not carried over to the next action plan.