compare fibre jlrnBE3Jn3o unsplash flipped

About us

The International Climate Councils Network (ICCN) was launched in 2021 as a forum for climate councils from around the world to share experiences, discuss common challenges and support one another in their work. The network is highly influential as all our members are official advisers to government.

Mission and Objectives

The ICCN’s mission is to improve national and international climate governance through effective climate councils. We do this through delivery of the following three objectives:

  1. Add value to our members and build capacity between them through a systematic and targeted knowledge-sharing programme. This includes working groups on technical and governance issues, webinars, newsletters, peer-to-peer coaching and exchange programmes.
  2. Amplify the collective voice of national councils – and showcase individual success of national councils – at an international level, to influence international climate governance and outcomes.
  3. Grow the network by encouraging more countries to adopt national advisory climate councils, and developing resourcing models that effectively support countries who do not have enough resource to create a council.

Guiding principles for climate councils

A majority of councils have endorsed the following five principles as integral to enabling climate councils to fulfil their roles effectively:

  1. A robust grounding in the latest climate science, as exemplified by the assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), supported by strong expertise across relevant economic, physical, ecological and social sciences
  2. A mandate to provide independent, evidence-led advice to and assessment of action by Government and stakeholders on climate mitigation and/or adaptation, with sufficient resources to deliver on that mandate
  3. A remit to produce advice on the socioeconomic aspects of the climate transition to ensure that it is procedurally and substantively fair
  4. A consultative and impartial approach to engaging stakeholders to help develop consensus and steer policy action, particularly in critical and/or challenging areas
  5. A sharp focus on strengthening and aligning adaptation, mitigation and just transition efforts, and improving their integration – all three are essential to effective climate action.