Meaningful participatory climate governance: Lessons from EU multilevel climate and energy dialogues

Abstract Transitioning to a climate‐neutral future requires rapid and systemic transformations across economic and social systems. Meaningful participatory governance, facilitated through deliberative dialogues and knowledge‐sharing, is essential for fostering policy acceptance, innovation, and consensus on national climate solutions ‐ particularly at the subnational level. The EU's Governance Regulation (GovReg) mandates, in its Article 11, the establishment of multilevel climate and energy dialogues (MLCEDs) – a unique mechanism requiring multilevel and multi‐stakeholder engagement, active participation, and continuous dialogue to achieve the EU's climate neutrality target. Drawing on the participation and climate governance literature, we derive five core elements of meaningful participation. Despite their significance, research on MLCEDs implementation remains scarce. This article addresses this gap through a comparative qualitative content analysis of Member States MLCED progress reports and 11 semi‐structured interviews with stakeholders across seven countries. Our findings indicate that, while Article 11 has the potential to enable deliberative and democratic participation, its implementation is fraught with shortcomings, limiting its capacity to support inclusive and transformative climate governance. We highlight key weaknesses and propose recommendations for strengthening legal and practical frameworks to enhance EU climate governance in pursuit of climate neutrality.