Achieving climate neutrality by 2050 requires a comprehensive and ambitious approach to EU policy and governance. The EU Procedural Governance Inventory outlines the most significant frameworks, institutions, and instruments pertinent to procedural climate governance in the EU, thereby fostering a comprehensive understanding of the EU's governance landscape. It is designed to bridge the connection between procedural governance and the project's '4i's—Integration, Infrastructure, Investment, and Innovation. Procedural climate governance encompasses the frameworks, policy instruments, and institutions that influence decision-making on climate-related issues. Also, the inventory's entries are linked to procedural governance functions that were developed under Work Package 5.1, including planning, expert advice, public participation, target setting, and mechanisms enhancing access to justice.

Purpose and aim

One practical purpose of the EU Procedural Governance Inventory is to create a tool that can be used within the project context. While the inventory aims to be comprehensive, given the scope of the climate crisis and many policy areas it touches, the 103 entries do not serve as an exhaustive list of all relevant governance mechanisms. For example, the inventory includes some institutions with broader mandates working on climate mitigation, e.g., the European Environment Agency, but does not cover all institutions working on climate mitigation issues in the EU context. Nonetheless, the inventory plays a crucial role in assessing the current state of climate-related EU procedural governance and contributes to the assessments conducted under Work Package 5.3. The 5.3 assessments look at specific governance mechanisms and procedural governance functions; all of which are considered in the inventory. The inventory thereby establishes a link between the theoretical framework set out under Work Package 5.1 and the research conducted under Work Package 5.3., contributing to the Work Package’s overall objective to develop proposals for an EU climate governance framework that is well-equipped for delivering transformative change.

Inventory's Structure and Design

Spanning 103 entries, the inventory is categorised based on the overarching policy each entry is anchored in, such as the European Climate Law or the European Green Deal. The structure encompasses different sections, like general information, legal nuances, the four ‘I’s, scope, and procedural governance functions. An essential aspect to note is that while the inventory provides an overview of the procedural governance landscape, it consciously refrains from evaluating the entries based on their implementation effectiveness.