Example: Oslo Business for Climate Network
| City role | The City of Oslo leads the Business for Climate Network as a citywide forum for dialogue with businesses, using it to connect the city’s climate strategy, climate budget and sector policy work with practical business engagement. |
| Funding and revenue | The formal partnership network now includes a small partnership fee, introduced in 2025 to create a more robust operating model, while sector forums remain free and open so that businesses can engage regardless of financial position. |
| Operating model | More than 80 formal partners sit alongside open professional forums that reached more than 300 companies in 2025. Partnership is based on ambition and willingness to improve, rather than requiring companies to already be climate leaders. |
| Scale and governance | The Vice Mayor for Environment and Transport has the formal political leadership role, while daily management sits with a cross-disciplinary Climate Agency team of eight people, equivalent to around two full-time roles. The team has substantial autonomy to plan programmes. |
| Key partners | Businesses across energy, construction and engineering, circular solutions, freight and commercial transport, alongside relevant municipal agencies, political leaders, and sector partnership organisations. |
Introduction and context
Oslo’s Business for Climate Network was launched in 2010 as a political forum for dialogue between the municipality and local businesses. Since then, it has become closely connected to the city’s climate strategy, climate budget, and long-term emissions goals. Its role is not to sit apart from municipal policy, but to help translate climate priorities into practical conversations with the businesses whose decisions, investments, and supply chains affect delivery.
The network has evolved alongside Oslo’s climate governance. The Climate Agency was established in 2016, Oslo’s first climate budget was introduced for 2017, and an ambitious climate strategy was adopted in 2020 with broad political support. The Climate Agency is now preparing the technical basis for a strategy towards 2040, with the network providing a practical channel for business input and engagement as priorities develop.
How the partnership works
The Business for Climate Network operates as a city-led platform for structured dialogue, policy exchange, and peer learning. Oslo uses the network to involve businesses in the practical questions behind climate delivery: what the city is planning, what businesses need to prepare for, where investment decisions are dependent on public action, and how different parts of the local economy can contribute to shared climate goals.
Connecting business engagement to city climate priorities
The Climate Agency team uses the network to open dialogue on the sectors and policy areas where business action is needed most, based on Oslo’s climate strategy, climate budget, and live policy processes. This can include areas such as energy, construction, circular solutions, freight and commercial transport, waterways, and climate adaptation.
Using open sector forums to reach the right businesses
Since 2020, Oslo has used open professional forums to engage companies around specific climate priorities. These forums are free to join and sit alongside formal network partnership, allowing businesses to participate in the topics most relevant to them without needing to become full partners. This has widened the network’s reach beyond its formal partnership and created a flexible way to engage companies with different levels of capacity, maturity, and interest.
Aligning investment needs across the value chain
The freight and commercial transport forum demonstrates how Oslo uses the network to bring together the full value chain. By engaging transport operators, vehicle manufacturers, charging-infrastructure providers, and relevant city officials, the city can discuss future requirements and the practical conditions businesses need to invest. This helps companies understand what is coming, while giving the city insight into barriers, timing, and infrastructure needs.
Balancing accessible dialogue with a formal partnership offer
Formal partners sign a climate contract, report annually on their climate work, and are encouraged to strengthen climate management through emissions accounting, measurable targets, supplier requirements, and environmental management systems. At the same time, Oslo keeps the sector forums free and open, recognising that businesses should be able to engage with the city on climate action even if they are not paying partners. This creates a balance between accountability, resilience, and broad access.