Strategic Goal 4: Mobilising Climate Action in Local Communities This goal will ensure that local authorities engage with and empower communities to take action, using existing and enhanced local authority structures, processes and networks. Key Objectives Identify what matters to communities in relation to climate action and climate resilience – now and in the future. Inform and create awareness about effective climate action measures. Support communities in co-creating a vision for low carbon and resilient cities and counties and enable them to follow through with meaningful and impactful climate action. Seek out and develop partnerships with external agencies to catalyse climate action projects at community level. Motivate and create demand for climate action through capacity building programmes, policy/financial instruments and local development and wellbeing programmes. Pilot replicable demonstration and pathfinder projects and evaluate same. Our communities are our strength and the future of climate action is local. Climate change is a complex global issue but people experience the reality of climate change in their homes, communities and places of work. This can either be experiences of negative effects such as flooding and coastal erosion or the ongoing changes to the energy system and associated infrastructure such as wind farm development, home retrofits and changing household energy bills. Local authorities are capable of mobilising and empowering climate action across a wider range of stakeholders than any other sector in Ireland. This is because we have very close connections to the people that live, work and study in their administrative areas, as well as the businesses, farmers, community and sports organisations, universities, colleges, schools, other public sector organisations and individual households. Local authorities interact with communities and businesses through a wide range of channels and at different scales (e.g Local Areas, Municipal Districts) and they are seen to be community leaders and are experienced in brokering partnerships between multiple stakeholders. In making local authority climate policy, public participation is essential if decisions are to adequately reflect the full range of public needs, values and acceptability. Local authorities have many of the mechanism, processes and networks into communities to achieve this. When properly resourced, local authorities can engage with and empower communities to take action, using existing and enhanced local authority structures, processes and networks. This can be through identifying what matters to communities in relation to climate action and climate resilience, informing and creating awareness about effective climate action measures and by developing partnerships with external agencies to catalyse climate action projects at community level. Visit our Case Studies section to see examples of how local authorities mobilise climate action in local communities.