Cities account for approximately 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions. By 2050, seven in ten people will live in one (UNDP, 2024). The scale of that concentration means that what happens inside cities will largely determine whether climate targets are met or missed.
A significant share of those emissions comes down to individual behaviour: how residents heat their homes, how they get around, what they eat and what they throw away. Research suggests the barrier is less about personal conviction and more about how people perceive those around them. People consistently rate themselves as more active on climate issues than those around them. When people feel they are acting alone, many stop acting altogether. But when those same people were told that the majority of their neighbours do in fact care and are taking action, they became noticeably more willing to speak about climate work openly and publicly (Andre et al., 2024).
For cities, this is a specific insight that can help make their resident engagement programs more effective. Communicating clearly that climate action is a majority position gives residents the social permission to engage. Cities that know how to track that engagement, using the right climate action tracking software and sustainability reporting tools, are better placed to act on it too. The data they collect on resident participation helps refine messaging and show progress in ways residents can relate to.
We have compiled five research-backed approaches to increase resident engagement that cities can incorporate into their daily work, each illustrated by specific examples.
1. Speak your residents' language
The language a city uses to talk about climate work determines whether residents feel included in it or excluded from it. Often, sector-specific vocabulary has an alienating effect on anyone outside that bubble. The solution to effective communication might be as simple as breaking statements down to the level of a citizen's everyday life and thinking about what they might actually associate with and relate to.
Take a look at this sentence: "Our strong commitment to tackling climate change is reflected by our climate emergency declaration in 2019 and our net zero by 2035 target."
Terms like "net zero" and "climate emergency declaration" carry precise meaning among climate professionals. Among residents they create distance and confusion, or simple indifference, discouraging engagement altogether.
Try this instead: "In 2019, we officially recognised climate change as an urgent problem. Our goal is to eliminate our carbon emissions completely by 2035." The content of the statement is identical, but the second version is easily approachable for a person with no sector background.
A good rule of thumb is to read every line and ask whether someone outside the sector would understand it. If the answer is no, try making it even clearer.
2. Lead with personal benefits, not obligations
Asking residents to act for the greater good is rarely enough on its own. People make decisions based on what is relevant to their own lives, their household budgets, their commute, their children's school run. When climate action is framed as a civic duty or a collective sacrifice, it competes with everything else on a resident's list of priorities. Instead, framing it as something that makes their life better, is usually more fruitful.
If you want residents to switch their home lighting to LED bulbs, you could say: "Help us reduce our city's carbon emissions." Or you could say: "Switch to LED bulbs and save €200 on your electricity bill each year."
The second framing likely has a stronger impact, because the benefit is immediate rather than abstract. The environmental outcome is identical either way. Where possible, make the impact local and specific too. A city with cold winters has a powerful story to tell about preserving the seasons residents grew up with. That kind of framing positions climate change as part of people’s daily lives.
3. Make impact visible through data and gamification
One of the biggest challenges of climate work is that progress is often invisible to the people contributing to it. A resident who starts composting or cuts their meat consumption has no easy way of knowing whether it matters in the big picture. At the same time, they might feel discouraged when they cannot see what people around them are contributing and start to feel like their own effort is useless. Cities that close this loop by showing residents what their collective actions are actually achieving tend to see higher and more sustained participation.
One way of visualizing impact is using comparative examples. For instance, telling residents that 100 people committing to compost their organic waste saves the equivalent of driving a car across your region thousands of times makes it clear that individual choices add up to something measurable.
Gamification builds on that principle. When residents can track progress, commit to pledges, and see how their contributions add up alongside their neighbours’, participation tends to increase. The key is making the feedback loop short and the impact relatable. Yolo County in California has already put this into practice. Residents can make pledges directly through their climate action platform and see their commitments reflected in the community's overall progress.
4. Offer climate incentives that reward specific behaviour
When it comes to behavioural change, specific incentives tend to work better than general appeals to act sustainably. What moves behaviour reliably is a direct and tangible link between a specific action and a specific reward. This can mean financial incentives, convenience, recognition, or access to something residents already value. The point is that the reward feels proportionate to the effort, and that residents can see the connection clearly.
Three cities offer a useful illustration here:
Each of these rewards a specific behaviour rather than issuing a general appeal. The more direct the link between the action and the reward, the stronger the signal to residents that their choices are noticed and valued.
5. Use social norms to build collective momentum
Individual incentives work, but their effect multiplies when people feel part of a broader movement. This is, according to recent research, the single most effective strategy to get more people involved in climate work (Mohammadpourlima et al., 2025).
Most residents already support climate action. The question is whether cities are making it easy, rewarding, and communal enough for them to engage actively.
People consistently believe they care more than those around them, and that perceived isolation is one of the main reasons they stop acting. So how do cities use that information?
One part of the answer is straightforward: communicate clearly and often that the majority of residents do support climate action. When people who assume otherwise are told the truth, they become significantly more likely to speak about climate work openly (Andre et al., 2024).
The second part is creating structures for collective participation. Guimarães, in Portugal, runs a business climate pact where local companies voluntarily align their goals with the city's climate plan. The voluntary nature is not incidental. Research shows that when participation is mandated rather than chosen, people revert to old behaviour the moment no one is watching. Ghent's Veggie Thursday initiative works on the same principle: plant-based eating reframed as a shared civic activity rather than a personal sacrifice.
Local context is your most powerful tool
The cities making the most progress on resident engagement tend to combine these approaches, using clear, benefit-led communication to build awareness, and community structures and social norms to motivate resident action. The right mix depends on what you are trying to achieve. Shifting a behaviour requires different tools than shifting an opinion.
It is important to understand that residents are active participants in climate policy who are influenced by their peers and driven by emotions, personal preferences and a sense of belonging. Therefore, the most effective engagement strategies are always rooted in a local context. The more you know about what your residents care about, the easier it is for you to get them to help you reach your climate targets.
Ready to turn resident engagement into measurable results? Kausal helps you manage your entire climate action plan in one place. Book a demo to see it in action.