A rapidly growing network wanted a co-designed strategy.
Climate councils advise governments on how to meet their climate goals. Each works under a different mandate, in a different political context, with very different resources. The ICCN connects them, so they can learn from each other and act together.
The network's Secretariat was setting its direction for the next three years. It insisted that members' needs and opinions shape the strategy from the start, because co-design creates co-ownership: people who invest in a strategy feel invested in it. As in any healthy network, members brought a wide range of views on what it should be and do. Turning that range into shared direction takes careful design, so the Secretariat brought us in.
Members first, drafting second.
This was a room of heavyweights. Around the virtual table sat the chairs and chief executives of councils that tell governments whether their climate plans add up. We brought deep knowledge of the policy, and the confidence to steer senior people towards a decision.
We designed a fully online process that worked across time zones: a plenary to open, two sessions with the Steering Committee and three consultations with members. Each ended with a readout, so the thinking built from one session to the next. With the Steering Committee, we stress-tested the network's role: a coordinating body for its members, or an actor in its own right?
We created formats that helped members move beyond the obvious. These included working with archetypes and reverse-engineering outcomes. Members concluded the network has two jobs: building their capability, and speaking with authority on their behalf. That settled what kind of network it is, and shaped how the strategy divides the work.
Ambition, made deliverable.
Consultation produced plenty of ambition: sixteen primary outcomes. We helped members thin them out and tether each one to the present day. Then we supported the Secretariat to shape them into a strategy, using a simple framework: mission, vision, outcomes, indicators, enablers, activities and risks.
Members also asked for principles that would let the Secretariat act quickly, without consulting everyone on every decision. The Secretariat drafted them, with our input. Both the framework and the principles are built into the adopted strategy, which runs from April 2026 to April 2029.
Steering Committee sessions testing direction with the network's leaders
member consultations, online and across time zones
outcomes mapped, then thinned to what the network can deliver
strategy adopted, co-designed with members, running 2026–2029
The network's priorities came from its members, through consultations and a survey.
Building members' capability first, and speaking for them where only a network can.
Every outcome now links to indicators, enablers, activities and risks.
Pre-agreed principles let the Secretariat move quickly, without full consultation each time.