Advanced Systems Innovation for Climate Neutrality: Portfolio Making and Distributed Governance

Context: Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan, has been grappling with severe air pollution issues, primarily due to rapid urbanization, outdated industrial practices, and a high reliance on fossil fuels. The pollution poses significant public health risks and hinders the city’s sustainable development goals.

Approach: To address this challenge, Almaty collaborated with the UNDP and stakeholders to develop a portfolio of interventions aimed at improving air quality. The portfolio approach was essential in tackling the complex and interdependent factors contributing to pollution.

Key Elements:

• Systemic Challenge: The portfolio approach in Almaty recognized air pollution not just as an environmental issue but also as an economic and public health concern.
• Strategic Re-framing: The challenge was strategically re-framed to encompass broader socio-economic impacts, which allowed the city to design interventions that addressed root causes rather than just symptoms.
• Diverse Interventions: The portfolio included multiple interventions such as enhancing biking infrastructure, implementing nature-based solutions, and providing green economy incentives. These actions were coordinated to create synergies and maximize their collective impact.

Outcome: The comprehensive approach allowed Almaty to mitigate the risk of relying on a single large intervention. By diversifying their strategies and focusing on systemic change, the city could better manage air quality and contribute to broader sustainability goals.

Context: Lund, a city known for its commitment to sustainability and innovation, sought to create an innovation ecosystem that could support its ambitious climate transition goals. The city aimed to build a governance model that could manage the complexity of urban transformations and foster continuous learning and adaptation.

Approach: Lund collaborated with the Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (OPSI) to develop a governance model called the Lund Innovation Ecosystem Portfolio Tracking (LIEPT). This model was designed to observe, map, and monitor various interventions in the city’s urban ecosystem.

Key Elements:

• Portfolio of Patterns: The LIEPT model helped the city create a “portfolio of patterns,” which consisted of proven and applicable financial interventions and business models aimed at promoting climate transitions.
• Contextual Learning: The governance model acknowledged the “essentially unique” nature of each intervention, focusing on local and contextual conditions that influenced the success of climate actions.
• Distributed Governance: Lund’s approach involved a distributed governance model where the coordination of resources and actions was shared among multiple stakeholders, including public agencies, private actors, and civil society.

Outcome: The LIEPT model enabled Lund to better understand and manage the complexity of its urban ecosystem. By fostering distributed governance and leveraging diverse data points, the city was able to enhance its capability to implement effective climate actions and adapt to emerging challenges.