The number of cooperative initiatives aimed at combating climate change has ballooned over the past decade. Since the Paris Agreement, governments have launched hundreds of pledges and coalitions to tackle everything from renewable energy, zero-emissions transport and methane, to forests, food systems and adaptation. As the number of joint announcements and initiatives grows, so too do expectations that these efforts can close the ambition and implementation gaps left by slower-moving formal negotiations.
Cooperative initiatives are critical because they bring together “coalitions of the willing” to tackle specific challenges that can be hard to address through multilateral negotiating processes — especially in areas where it has not been possible to reach consensus on ambitious goals (such as setting specific global decarbonization targets). By focusing on specific sectors, activities and approaches, these initiatives have the potential to spur change and strengthen collaboration across borders, providing a much-needed dimension to international climate governance. They can bring momentum to multi-country efforts that, in turn, drive domestic climate action — where change is most needed and impactful.
Yet the effectiveness of these efforts has been questioned at times. Some initiatives may generate political visibility at launch, but the political and media attention they garner do not guarantee that they will deliver measurable outcomes. Other initiatives may duplicate existing efforts or fail to attract the actors most essential to driving progress. Without greater intentionality in how initiatives are designed, governed and assessed, the growing landscape of climate cooperation risks dilution rather than delivery.
Based on recent WRI research and lessons from the past decade, the following seven elements offer a practical framework for building coalitions that can catalyze national action, drive international cooperation and spur systemic change over time. This provides a guide that stakeholders, including governments and initiatives themselves, can use to develop, build and carry out effective collaboration for climate action.
1) Identify a Clear Need and Opportunity for Impact
Initiatives should begin with a clearly defined purpose rooted in a real gap or opportunity. That means identifying whether they address a sectoral gap; a regional need; or a missing governance function, such as standard-setting, implementation support or finance mobilization. If initiatives do not first assess their role and added value within the existing ecosystem of climate action, they risk duplication, fragmentation and limited relevance.
A stronger starting point involves identifying where cooperation can unlock action that would not otherwise occur. This may mean targeting underserved sectors or identifying new contributions to high-impact opportunities. One example is the Global Methane Pledge, launched at COP26 to target the namesake super pollutant. Other opportunities could lie in areas like heavy industry, adaptation in climate-vulnerable regions or land-use transitions. Equally important is recognizing where participation is currently lacking — whether among high-emitting countries, rapidly growing economies, or climate-vulnerable regions that face the greatest implementation challenges. Establishing a clear rationale for the initiative is essential for attracting meaningful participation and designing goals that matter.
2) Define the Initiative’s Purpose
International coalitions serve different functions: Some are designed to send political signals; others, to align standards, coordinate implementation, share technical knowledge or mobilize finance. When the intended function is vague, expectations can be misaligned, and success becomes difficult to assess.
A credible initiative should articulate whether commitments are collective or individual; whether their focus is political coordination or technical delivery; and whether they are meant to catalyze near-term action or longer-term transformation. This clarity helps determine who needs to be involved, what institutional arrangements are required, and how progress should be evaluated. Defining purpose early also reduces the likelihood of symbolic announcements that lack pathways to implementation.
For example, the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA), launched by the United Kingdom and Canada at COP23, defined its purpose from the outset: as a collective political commitment to phase out unabated coal power and halt new plants without carbon capture and storage, while supporting clean energy transitions through domestic policy and finance measures.
3) Set Ambitious and Actionable Goals
Actionable goals are essential for moving initiatives beyond statements of intent. While broad aspirations can help shape narratives or bring attention to a particular issue, initiatives with specific targets or well-defined action areas can better guide decision-making and implementation. For example, the Glasgow Leaders Declaration set a broad target to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030, while the Forest & Climate Leaders’ Partnership takes this a step further, with its participating countries working together on six action areas to help drive the achievement of the Glasgow Leaders goal.
Setting credible goals involves articulating what the initiative aims to achieve, by when and through what means. Furthermore, without clearly defined goals, it is difficult to assess progress, mobilize resources or coordinate efforts among participants.
Goal setting can be treated as an evolving process: At launch, initiatives should articulate clear quantitative or qualitative goals that signal intent and define their contribution to the cooperation landscape. As they mature, these goals should become time-bound and measurable. They can also be updated as progress is reviewed and the broader landscape evolves over time. For example, the SIDS Lighthouses Initiative, which aims to advance renewable energy installations in small islands states, has progressively revised and increased its targets several times. The initiative is now working toward achieving its third target (set for 2030), after meeting those previously set for 2020 and 2023.
4) Build with the Right Participants and Leadership
The effectiveness and credibility of an initiative depend heavily on who is involved. Strong initiatives intentionally recruit participants that reflect both the problem and the solution. This includes major emitters, countries with significant implementation needs and regions that have been underrepresented in existing efforts.
Today, however, the landscape of climate initiatives is largely dominated by participation from developed countries; the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Japan and the United States are among the five most active countries. Governments from Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe and small island developing states participate at lower rates. Meanwhile, participation and leadership from governments in the Global South remain disproportionately low, reducing equity, ownership and relevance.
A better example comes from the International Solar Alliance. India’s leadership, together with France, helped establish this initiative, which has since transformed into an intergovernmental organization bringing together more than 120 member countries, many of which are located in the tropics.
Political leadership also matters. Visible champions — whether national governments, regional blocs or ministerial coalitions -— can help attract buy-in, sustain visibility and influence others to join. Geographic diversity and shared leadership across North-South contexts can strengthen credibility, ensure initiatives are grounded in diverse realities, and eventually drive the impact they aim to achieve.
5) Set Up for Success through Robust Institutional and Governance Structures
Initiatives are unlikely to produce impact without sufficient structures, including governance and funding. Developing a robust institution is a prerequisite for effective delivery, with clear decision-making and governance processes.
Research has shown that secretariats support an initiative’s ability to deliver and are valuable tools for coordinating participating actors, directing and supporting activities, and facilitating engagement with outside stakeholders. Some initiatives may choose to establish a new, bespoke secretariat, or to house one within an existing organization. The Climate and Clean Air Coalition, for example, has developed robust governance structures, with a secretariat housed at the UN Environment Programme, rotating co-chairs, a diverse board and a scientific advisory panel.
But initiatives and their secretariats cannot deliver without the necessary levels of support, including funding. A dedicated budget is necessary to support process management (such as the secretariat) and the initiative’s activities. Equally important is ensuring that this funding is sustained over the long term; otherwise, the initiative risks fading away and being unable to continue its activities.
6) Implement Outcome-Driven Activities
Climate initiatives often succeed in generating visibility, at least during COPs and other major events, but fall short when it comes to execution. To achieve real results, an initiative must be able to translate commitments into activities directly tied to outcomes — whether through policy coordination, technical support, standard setting, information sharing or mobilization of finance. Outputs should be aligned with the stated purpose and structured to allow for delivery within member countries’ national contexts.
In practice, this may look like designing workplans or roadmaps and producing concrete outputs (such as technical guidance, pilot projects, finance mobilization plans or capacity building activities) that help member countries deliver their commitments. Here, it is essential to identify the stakeholders needed to effectively carry forward these activities in respective member countries.
With intergovernmental cooperative initiatives, making sure objectives are integrated into national plans and strategies can help strengthen implementation. Embedding initiative goals in domestic policy processes not only ensures that they are aligned with domestic efforts, but also enables activities to be tailored to national realities and ultimately achieve stronger outcomes on the ground.
For example, the Zero Emission Vehicles Transition Council (ZEVTC) supports participating countries through tailored partnerships that align national transport decarbonization strategies with industrial and clean energy policies. It aims to accelerate the transition to zero-emission vehicles by supporting domestic measures to phase out internal combustion engine vehicles and expand charging and refueling infrastructure. Through its multi-stakeholder platforms and country partnerships, ZEVTC helps translate political commitments into coordinated action, mobilize private-sector investment, and catalyze systemic shifts in the transport sector and on the ground.
7) Monitor Initiative Impacts with Regular Reporting
Transparency is essential for building trust that initiatives are making real progress toward their commitments, yet regular and systematic public reporting remains the exception rather than the rule. While some initiatives publish reports on their efforts online, including through UN Climate Change’s Global Climate Action Portal, many provide only ad hoc statements or press releases. And others do not have any formal processes for tracking outputs and outcomes. A robust monitoring and evaluation system, through the development and use of indicators to measure progress against stated objectives, is critical for assessing whether initiatives are mobilizing resources, shifting policies or catalyzing systemic change — in other words, delivering.
This gap is more than a technical shortcoming: It strikes at the very credibility of international climate cooperation. Without clear evidence of delivery, the broader community cannot assess impact or hold initiatives accountable. As a result, confidence in these efforts can erode, raising doubts about the integrity of multilateral climate governance. Cooperation could start to appear as a vehicle solely for symbolic or even greenwashed leadership than as a driver for measurable results.
A Framework for Assessing Progress
WRI’s recent research explores how to evaluate whether initiatives are equipped with the goals, governance structures, implementation strategies and reporting systems required to deliver on their commitments. This research puts forward a framework through which an initiative’s maturity can be assessed. It tests whether an initiative’s goals are clear, as well as complementary to the wider landscape of climate cooperation; whether governance and implementation structures are in place to turn commitments into concrete actions; and whether monitoring and reporting systems exist to track outcomes and communicate progress.
Applying this framework can help identify where climate initiatives need to enhance their efforts and transparency and, in turn, support a shift from one-off pledges toward concrete implementation and impact. Ultimately, the value of cooperation lies not only in what is promised, but in the impact delivered — and it’s crucial that initiatives can demonstrate that they are making a difference.
How Can Cooperative Initiatives and COP30 Advance Climate Progress?
Delivering on the promise of international cooperation will require active engagement and collaboration — not only among governments, but across all stakeholders, including international organizations, civil society, subnational and local governments, and others. With the world still off track to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, enhancing international cooperation is imperative.
Brazil’s COP30 Presidency has drawn renewed attention to the “Global Climate Action Agenda,” an umbrella encompassing the wide range of climate efforts undertaken by diverse actors. The incoming Presidency has sought to align the Action Agenda with the outcomes of the first Global Stocktake in order to connect real-world action with the negotiations at COP30. This effort opens new possibilities for harmonizing the multilateral process with the broader ecosystem of climate action, allowing countries to harness the cooperation already underway, elevate successes and address persistent barriers to greater impact.
Ultimately, the promise of intergovernmental climate cooperation will be determined not by the number of initiatives launched or commitments made, but through effective collective action that delivers systemic transformations.
