Locally Led Climate Action (LLCA) is a transformative approach that strengthens multi-dimensional resilience while driving economic growth and inclusive development. LLCA channels financing to the local level – where climate impacts are most deeply felt – and empowers communities and local actors with the skills, resources, and expertise needed to develop sustainable solutions. Through complementary interventions in governance and decision-making, LLCA increases accountability and supports inclusive economic development.
LLCA not only enhances climate adaptation and mitigation, but also generates economic opportunities, from job creation in transition-aligned industries to support for entrepreneurs in emerging sectors and smallholders improving the sustainability of their livelihoods. This approach is more than an investment in communities – it is a pathway toward a more resilient, equitable, and prosperous future locally, nationally, and globally.
The LLCA approach builds from the work of organizations like the Global Commission on Adaptation, IIED, and WRI to streamline guidance on project design and implementation that can lead to better outcomes and more opportunities for learning. At the World Bank, we are advancing LLCA with an operational approach that practitioners can use to design national scale projects and enable locally led efforts for climate adaptation and mitigation.
The operational approach recommends projects incorporate three design features:
(1) Subsidiarity and devolution: Devolving power to and strengthening the capacity of the lowest appropriate level for governing the climate challenge;
(2) Participation, inclusion, and empowerment of communities for climate action; and
(3) Climate-informed investment: Alignment of investments with the best available climate science and existing climate priorities.
Additional resources on LLCA:
- Results Brief on World Bank LLCA operations
- Case study: Financing Locally Led Climate Action (FLLOCA) in Kenya
- Adaptation & Resilience Flagship: Rising to the Challenge
The Platform for Locally Led Climate Action is an initiative of the Social Dimensions of Climate Change group at the World Bank.