Throughout COP28, leaders worldwide talked about equity and justice, but what work are they doing to center frontline communities in these discussions? The conversation must start with community engagement in policy decision-making to ensure frontline voices are heard and integrated into policies. Ensuring an equitable transition to clean energy can have positive impacts on all communities worldwide, as the benefits can then reach those with the least resources to respond to climate change impacts. COP28 allowed policymakers, communities, and businesses to share best practices for community engagement and transparency towards equitable climate policies. I noticed three themes that emerged on how to center equity and engagement in climate and energy policy to ensure procedural justice, which concerns who is at the decision-making table and their influence, and ensure policies are maximizing benefits.

One form of equitable engagement that produces more robust policy includes elevating the voices of indigenous knowledge holders, ensuring they continue to be involved, and allowing them to lead and influence the conversation so their science and knowledge aren’t taken advantage of. During the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform Multi-stakeholder dialogue at COP28, Anne Lasimbang, an indigenous knowledge holder from Asia, stated that the basis of much indigenous knowledge is a “delicate balance of systems and strong relationship with nature, and the main driver of climate change is people losing this relationship with nature.” Indigenous communities have a lot to share with the world and are willing to do so as long as we respect them and their knowledge, as many are already feeling the impacts of climate change and are having to adapt to survive. Indigenous technologies and knowledge systems to conserve land and biodiversity are critical solutions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to and mitigating climate change. Wildfires in Canada, coastal erosion and reef habitat endangerment, and permafrost thawing are only a few examples of risks to indigenous communities that put them at risk of displacement. To mitigate these impacts, indigenous technologies shared by speakers included fishery and water management practices, forest burning practices, and chemical-free recycling. Funding indigenous knowledge building and collaboration between scientists and indigenous communities were proposed as ways for indigenous knowledge integration into climate mitigation and adaptation work. Looking at science, technology, and policy through more than a Western lens is integral to including historically disadvantaged and excluded Indigenous communities in decision-making processes and having climate policies benefit the most people possible.

Next, there is a need to engage with communities that have historically held the burden of energy production and those that may carry a more significant burden of clean energy projects in the future. The communities that have historically held the burden of energy production hold knowledge of the local and regional impacts of the energy system and should have the opportunity to share this knowledge with policymakers locally, nationally, and internationally. Many lessons can be learned from these communities for future placement of clean energy projects so that communities that hold them are not exploited. In some cases, these communities may be the same and are also looking for a way to transition to clean energy. However, many may be new to hosting energy projects, such as rural communities with the land needed for wind and solar energy siting. Having these various communities at the table and allowing them to have power and a voice in the decision-making process ensures that benefits are reaching those most directly impacted and that policymakers do not make the same mistakes of the past – negatively impacting communities that host energy projects through poor health and safety measures.

Furthermore, one of the main themes from COP28 was a just transition, or making sure frontline communities and workers impacted by the transition from fossil fuel to clean energy are not left behind and are allowed to transition with the world. Frontline communities and workers should have a spot at the decision-making table, as they are most impacted by climate change and are directly impacted by the energy transition through job loss. There must also be transition pathways for those whose jobs are disappearing. Another key aspect of this transition and community engagement is transparency, primarily from the governments and businesses working to mitigate and adapt to climate change to their employees and surrounding communities. Ensuring communities and workers are in the know and have an opportunity to engage with these topics and influence policymaking is a key step towards equitable community engagement.

Overall, there is a need to bring in indigenous communities, local community members, and workers for policymaking decisions at all levels to ensure all feel the benefits of climate policies, especially those historically (and currently) negatively impacted by environmental injustices and climate change. While much work is being done internationally to ensure frontline communities are included in conversations to create and support climate and energy policies, much more work still needs to be done to deploy the themes from COP28 into action. For example, current work is being done by cities across the world to build equitable community engagement in climate action plans. Oakland, California, ranked highly in equitable community outreach by ACEEE’s City Clean Energy Scorecard, has a robust community engagement process, including childcare support for attendees, translation, and meetings at different times and dates for those who work. This is just one model for community engagement and procedural justice, and every city, region, and country may have a different one depending on their unique cultural and historical context, as COP28 revealed. However, the three themes I touched on can be universal and deployed at all levels, and COP provides an opportunity to share knowledge and uplift frontline voices.