Launching the Leadership Lab for Climate and Governance
Summary
In 2025, RenovaBR committed to launch the Leadership Lab for Climate and Governance to address a pressing gap in climate governance capacity across Latin America by equipping political leaders with the tools to design and implement policy-driven systemic, sustainable, and inclusive climate solutions. For two years, RenovaBR, alongside Climate Ventures and their funding partners, will curate an annual cohort of 50 leaders to participate in a 12-month program designed to generate scalable policy solutions that address key climate challenges. This initiative will unfold in three integrated phases annually: a virtual preparatory module focused on climate justice, public ethics, and negotiation; an in-person immersion in climate-vulnerable regions such as the Amazon and coastal zones; and a six-month prototyping phase involving labs in which participants co-develop policy and legislative solutions for climate resilience and democratic governance. By 2027, 100 public and political leaders will go through the program and launch more than 75 climate-focused, implementable, and co-created policy solutions.
Approach
RenovaBR, in collaboration with Climate Ventures and local funding partners, commits to implementing the Leadership Lab for Climate and Governance, a cross-sectoral accelerator that will train 100 political and public leaders from Latin America by September 2027. Each year RenovaBR will curate a cohort of 50 leaders and this initiative will unfold in three integrated phases annually: a virtual preparatory module focused on climate justice, public ethics, and negotiation; an in-person immersion in climate-vulnerable regions such as the Amazon and coastal zones; and a six-month prototyping phase involving design labs in which participants co-develop policy and legislative solutions for climate resilience and democratic governance. These design labs aim to enhance leaders’ capacity in climate policy, adaptive governance, and democratic negotiation. The initiative also promotes South-South collaboration and civic engagement as cornerstones of its approach, with the ultimate goal of generating scalable, high-impact policy solutions that can be implemented within one year of training.
RenovaBR brings significant expertise in nonpartisan political education, having trained over 3,500 leaders across Brazil. The organization will lead the program’s design and delivery, drawing on its extensive faculty of political educators and legislative experts. RenovaBR will also manage participant selection, training execution, and post-program evaluation. Climate Ventures will contribute its expertise in climate innovation and ecosystem mobilization, curating preparatory modules and facilitating co-creation labs with local communities and private sector actors.
Together, these partners will produce scalable, community-rooted climate policy solutions, with a 70% implementation target within 12 months of training, while establishing a long-term governance hub for climate resilience in the Global South.Through Democracia+ and its international network, the initiative is embedded in a multilateral learning environment, connecting Brazil’s context to insights and practices from multiple countries. This cross-border engagement fosters exchange of strategies, comparative policy analysis, and peer-to-peer collaboration, enabling Brazilian leaders to learn from diverse governance models and to share successful approaches internationally—creating mutual benefits for social, economic, and democratic resilience.
Action Plan
RenovaBR will begin the Leadership Lab for Climate and Governance initiative in September 2025 and conclude in September 2027. The initiative will launch at CGI 2025 during Climate Week in New York, marking the formal start of program outreach and stakeholder engagement. From September to December 2025, RenovaBR will coordinate participant selection for the first cohort of 50 participants, finalize curriculum content, and initiate strategic partnerships and logistical preparations for the Lab.
From January to April 2026, participants will engage in phase 1: a virtual preparatory module focused on foundational knowledge in climate justice, public ethics, democratic frameworks, and negotiation. This curriculum will be curated in collaboration with Climate Ventures and global experts to ensure regional relevance and practical application.
From May to June 2026, the program will transition to an in-person immersion phase (phase 2) . During this period, participants will form multidisciplinary policy squads and conduct fieldwork in key biomes such as the Amazon, Cerrado, and coastal zones. These residencies will include community site visits, stakeholder dialogues, and policy design sprints. By June 2026, each team will have developed preliminary policy prototypes targeting climate resilience and governance challenges specific to their regions.
From July to September 2026, participants will receive structured coaching and stakeholder feedback to refine their proposals as part of the third phase involving design labs. Final versions will be presented, with an emphasis on municipal-level solutions and public sector implementation readiness and the best proposals will be showcased during COP31.
In November 2026, RenovaBR will launch its next recruitment cycle for 50 leaders and repeat the same three phases of implementation. While the new cohort is being onboarded and starting to engage in the program, RenovaBR will simultaneously monitor and support solution implementation from the first cohort aligned with the new congressional and executive terms.
Background
Despite being one of the regions most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, Latin America lacks adequately prepared political leaders who can design and implement systemic, sustainable, and inclusive climate solutions. For example, the 2023 Latinobarómetro report found that declining trust in democracy across Latin America is strongly linked to the poor quality of political elites, highlighting the urgent need for better-prepared leaders. This deficit has led to a range of adverse outcomes, including underdeveloped climate legislation, ineffective public management of climate-related funds, and missed opportunities for inclusive and equitable development.
The region’s vulnerability is compounded by the absence of robust mechanisms to integrate climate science, civic participation, and public innovation into policymaking. This has left many governments ill-equipped to foster democratic resilience or lead a just transition to a low-carbon economy. Marginalized communities—particularly Black, Indigenous, women, and youth populations—remain underrepresented in decision-making spaces, further limiting the scope and legitimacy of climate policy.
There is an urgent need for more collaboration among governments and civic leaders across Latin America to generate scalable policy solutions that can be implemented through the principles of democratic governance to spur high-impact innovation.
Progress Update
Partnership Opportunities
RenovaBR is seeking implementation partners with expertise in climate justice, public policy, and governance to support the delivery and expansion of the Leadership Lab for Climate and Governance. The organization welcomes collaboration with funders, academic institutions, and civil society groups to enhance the curriculum, offer mentorship, and co-develop scalable policy solutions. Additional support is sought in the form of media amplification to increase visibility for participant initiatives and to attract diverse applicants from marginalized communities. RenovaBR also seeks co-investment from philanthropic and private sector actors to secure full program funding and enable the replication of successful models across other regions in the Global South.,RenovaBR, through the Leadership Lab for Climate and Governance, offers its expertise in political education, legislative innovation, and democratic capacity building to organizations seeking to strengthen climate governance in Latin America. The commitment provides access to a growing network of over 3,500 trained political leaders, replicable best practices in climate-focused policy design, and insights from immersive labs in vulnerable biomes. Partners will also benefit from co-branded visibility at global forums such as CGI’s Annual Meeting in 2026 and COP31, and the opportunity to engage with a community of civic leaders, funders, and climate innovators committed to a just transition. RenovaBR will share learning frameworks, case studies, and tools for policy prototyping and stakeholder engagement to support global adaptation and replication.