Current government capacities are widely insufficient for effective implementation of policies on climate and nature
Without sufficient capacity, even the best laid plans won’t come to fruition. State capacity refers to the ability of governments to implement policies and achieve their goals. This includes maintaining the rule of law, collecting taxes, delivering public goods and administrative services, designing and implementing policies, and ensuring coordination across government and with other stakeholders, among other functions. Additionally, governments have the unique power to regulate, empower and steer other societal actors, including businesses and civil society, with a view to realizing social goals — and without being captured by vested interests.
This shift therefore considers the extent to which governments can implement effective climate and nature policies, build statistical capacity to track progress and identify gaps, foster bureaucratic cultures that serve the public interest, and adopt adaptive, flexible planning and regulatory approaches supported by robust monitoring, evaluation and learning systems.
Based on the data available, countries have significant work to do to build governance capacity to deliver on commitments in a way that is credible and equitable across society. As of 2022, the Berggruen Index found that the global mean score for countries’ ability to implement political priorities was only 52 out of 100–rising only two points since the year 2000.
Accurately assessing government capacities identifies areas for improvement toward impactful and equitable policies
Assessing government capacity includes considering their statistical capacity to assess their own progress and gaps, taking into account technical capacities such as data monitoring and management and planning. In 2024, the world’s average score on open and accessible statistical systems — needed for adequate statistical capacity to plan and track progress toward reaching policy goals for people, nature and climate — was just 56 out of a possible high of 100. Nonetheless, this global average is trending in the right direction, up from 32 in 2015.
Effective policy implementation also requires bureaucratic cultures that promote the public interest and develop adaptive and flexible approaches to planning and regulations. Therefore, this shift also considers governments’ institutional and political economic capacity to align the interests of political elites with climate, nature and social equity goals. This level of state capacity entails political and bureaucratic leadership, institutional arrangements, incentive structures, and the ability and willingness to enforce compliance.
These have long been areas of focus for development practitioners, and some improvements are evident in recent years — as seen in indicators tracking state capacity to implement political priorities, national data management capacity and countries' fragility and risk of conflict. However, challenges in delivering services effectively are still pervasive.
Moving forward, the need for systems change and technological innovation presents new capacity challenges in the form of regulatory, planning and management adaptivity and flexibility. Evidence suggests that countries should focus on organizational leadership, empowering civil servants and creating incentives to encourage experimentation.
The indicators presented in this shift are all directional, with an increasing trend indicating improvements in government capacity. While there are no specified global targets or timeframes, climate and nature commitments can only be implemented fairly and effectively if these key measures of state capacity show rapid improvement.
This system does not include enabler and barrier indicators, as we assume the outcome indicators in governance enable shifts in other systems.